A total of 219 fresh cases of stubble burning were reported in Punjab on Tuesday, taking the season's total toll of farm fires to 2,356, which is about 55 per cent less than the figure in the corresponding period last year, official data showed.
From September 15 to October 29, Punjab has seen 2,356 farm fire cases as compared to 5,254 such incidents in the corresponding period last year, according to the Punjab Remote Sensing Centre data.
Meanwhile, in 2022, the state has recorded 12,112 farm fires during the same period in 2022.
On Tuesday, 219 farm fires were recorded in the state. Ferozepur reported maximum incidents at 45, followed by Sangrur at 38 and Patiala at 22, as per the data.
On the same day in 2022 and 2023, the state had seen 1,898 and 1,068 active fire events respectively.
Procurement of paddy is underway in Punjab.
Stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana is often blamed for the rise in air pollution in Delhi after harvesting of the paddy crop in October and November. As the window for wheat, a Rabi crop, is very short after paddy harvest, some farmers set their fields on fire to quickly clear off the crop residue for sowing the next crop.
With over 31 lakh hectares of paddy area, Punjab produces around 180-200 lakh tonne of paddy straw every year.
Punjab recorded a total of 36,663 farm fires in 2023, registering a 26 per cent drop in such incidents.
The state recorded 49,922 fire events in 2022, 71,304 in 2021, 76,590 in 2020, 55,210 in 2019 and 50,590 in 2018, with many districts including Sangrur, Mansa, Bathinda and Amritsar witnessing large number of stubble burning incidents.
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