Punjab recorded 1,251 new agricultural fire instances on Monday, the most in a single day this season, bringing the overall number of such occurrences to 9,655, according to statistics from the Punjab Remote Sensing Centre.
On November 8, Punjab recorded 730 agricultural fire occurrences, the highest total in a single day this season till Monday.
Muktsar district recorded the highest stubble burning incidences in the state on Monday, with 247, followed by Moga (149), Ferozepur (130), Bathinda (129), Fazilka (94) and Faridkot (88), according to the statistics.
According to the statistics, on the same day in 2022 and 2023, the state recorded 701 and 637 active business fire incidences correspondingly.
From September 15 to November 18, Punjab had 9,655 stubble burning incidences, representing a 71% decrease in agricultural residue burnings compared to the same time last year.
Punjab saw 48,489 and 33,719 farm fires within the same time period in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
Stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana is often blamed for the increase in air pollution in Delhi-NCR during paddy harvesting in October-November.
Because the Rabi crop – wheat – has a very short window following rice harvest, some farmers set fire to remove the crop residue before seeding the new crop.
Punjab recorded a total of 36,663 farm fire cases in 2023, registering a 26 per cent drop as compared to the previous year, the data showed.
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Source: News18
