Punjab sees 5K farm fire cases a day

Tribune News Service

Patiala, November 7

Despite annual attempts to ensure a curb on farm fires, the figure crossed 35,000 mark with over 5,000 more cases on Saturday night taking the total figure to 37,000. Officials said they expected the peak of farm fires in the coming week which might further pollute the Punjab air and add to Delhi’s worsening air quality.

According to data collected by the Punjab Pollution Control Board, 3,942 stubble burning incidents were reported on Friday night while 5,000 were reported on Saturday night.

“Almost 50 per cent of the total fires have been reported in the past six days, while 14,000 in the past three days. This has happened as the time to prepare the field for the next crop is limited now,” said Agriculture Department officials.

“We expect that stubble burning will decrease within the next seven to 10 days as most of the harvesting season is over,” said Punjab Pollution Control Board member secretary Karunesh Garg. However, sources said the peak of farm fires would be next week when many belts start harvesting.

Earlier, to ensure lesser cases, the Punjab Government tried its best to promote stubble use with cumulative fiscal incentives of Rs 25 crore to certain industries, in addition to deputing over 8,000 officials in the field.

Industries such as sugar mills, pulp and paper mills, besides those having boilers with steam generation capacity of more than 25 tonne per hour, will be eligible for the incentives.