NCR air hits severe zone; farm fires in Punjab 33% more than last year
Even as air quality hit the ‘severe’ mark in the Delhi-NCR region, sources in the Environment Ministry said paddy residue burning in Punjab saw 33.5% rise in last one month compared to the same period last year.
As per the Standard ISRO Protocol, for the period between September 15 and October 28, a total of 10,214 crop residue burning instances were reported in Punjab, compared to 7,648 for the same period last year. Of the 10,214 stubble burning cases so far, 7,100, or 69% of the total, were reported in the past week alone.
The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) held an emergency meeting on Saturday in light of the deteriorating air quality, and announced the implementation of Stage III Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) in the entire NCR region.
CAQM chairperson M M Kutty has also written to the Punjab Chief Secretary, requesting immediate action to curb farm fires and a comprehensive action-taken report in all reported cases. Ineffective implementation of statutory directions issued by the CAQM is a matter of concern, said the chairperson. Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav may also take up the matter with Punjab.
The ministry has revealed that up to October 24, crop on only about 45-50% of the sown area has been harvested in Punjab. “The contribution of stubble burning to the adverse air quality scenario in Delhi-NCR is currently at 18-20% and is likely to increase,’’ said sources.
About 71% of farm fires in Punjab this paddy harvesting season have been reported from seven — Amritsar, Sangrur, Firozpur, Gurdaspur, Kapurthala, Patiala and Tarn Taran — districts alone.
Haryana, UP fare better
According to the Environment Ministry, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh have fared well in checking farm fires. Haryana has brought down the stubble fires to 1,701 (September 15 to October 28) compared to 2,252 instances in the same period last year – a drop of 24.5%. In the NCR districts of UP as well, there has been a reduction in the number of farm fires from 43 in 2021 to 30 during the same period in 2022. The Ministry had termed the three days around Diwali this year the best in the past seven years, which experts attributed to the favourable wind condition.
Over the past two months, the CAQM has held regular meetings with officials of the states neighbouring the NCR, including Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, and has been issuing directions as well as monitoring the stubble-burning status.
Under the CAQM directions, a comprehensive action plan was prepared by the Punjab government which included crop diversification, in-situ crop residue management, bio-decomposer application, ex-situ crop residue management, awareness campaigns and monitoring, and enforcement.
The Centre has said that it made Rs 1,347 crore available to Punjab under the Crop Residue Management (CRM) scheme in the last five years.
“The utilisation of the machinery has, however, been very poor and a large number of machines remain unused, a serious drain on the resources,’’ said sources.
The ministry has further alleged that despite the success of the use of bio-decomposers in UP and Delhi for the in-situ stubble management, the machines were not deployed in Punjab. Not enough straw has been used as fodder for ex-situ management and that the awareness campaigns by the state have not been effective. Higher incidence of residue burning are also indicative of failures in monitoring and enforcement, said the ministry officials.
