Early harvest, labour unavailability due to pandemic led to more farm fires this time, say officials

Punjab and Haryana have recorded extra incidents of stubble burning this season to this point in comparison with final yr and it’s largely as a consequence of early harvesting of paddy and unavailability of farm labour because of the coronavirus pandemic, officers mentioned on Saturday.

According to the Punjab Pollution Control Board, the state has recorded 4,585 farm fires this season to this point in comparison with 1,631 such incidents throughout the corresponding interval final yr.

Haryana has additionally recorded a rise in farm fires — from round 1,200 incidents until October 16 final yr to 2,016 this yr.

Karunesh Garg, Member Secretary of the Punjab Pollution Control Board, nevertheless, mentioned the variety of stubble burning incidents appear giant due to early harvesting of paddy this yr.

“Around 17 lakh metric tonnes of paddy was harvested till October 15 last year. This year, the figure is around 40 lakh metric tonnes. It shows that farmers harvested their crop early this year,” he mentioned.

The monsoon season continued till September-end final yr, delaying harvesting of paddy, Garg mentioned.

Earlier this week, Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar had requested Punjab to manage stubble burning after air high quality within the nationwide capital hit “very poor” ranges.

Garg mentioned it was unsuitable guilty Punjab for Delhi’s unhealthy air.

“Stubble burning in Punjab may be a factor but its contribution to Delhi’s pollution is less than one per cent,” he asserted.

An official from the Haryana authorities mentioned the variety of farm fires within the state has “certainly increased” as in comparison with final yr. “It can be attributed to the unavailability of farm labour due to the Covid-19 pandemic.” S Narayanan, member secretary of the Haryana Pollution Control Board, mentioned, “The number of farm fires, so far, is more than last year… Maybe it is due to early harvesting.

So, it is too early to predict whether we will end up burning more stubble than last year.” “Most farm fires occur in Sirsa, Fatehabad and Kaithal. The administration has not been able to completely control stubble burning in those areas. Efforts are on.” According to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR), the contribution of farm fires to Delhi’s PM2.5 focus rose from round 6 per cent on Thursday to 18 per cent on Friday.

On Saturday, it’s estimated to be round 19 per cent, SAFAR mentioned. It was solely round one per cent on Wednesday and round three per cent on Tuesday, Monday and Sunday.

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) had Friday mentioned meteorological situations in Delhi have been “extremely unfavourable” for dispersion of pollution since this September as in comparison with final yr.

With much less space underneath non-basmati paddy cultivation this time, CPCB Member Secretary Prashant Gargava hoped the variety of stubble burning incidents shall be fewer this yr in comparison with 2019.

Non-basmati paddy straw is taken into account ineffective as fodder due to its excessive silica content material and so farmers burn it.

Gargava additionally mentioned stubble burning peak won’t coincide with the height of adversarial meteorological situations this yr as a consequence of early harvesting of paddy.

With Delhi-NCR bracing for months of poor air high quality, consultants have warned that prime ranges of air air pollution can irritate the Covid-19 state of affairs. Severe air air pollution in Delhi is a year-round downside, which might be attributed to unfavourable meteorological situations, farm fires in neighbouring areas and native sources of air pollution.

According to an evaluation by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, a Delhi-based suppose tank, transportation contributes probably the most — 18 to 39 per cent — to Delhi’s air air pollution. Road mud is the second-largest supply of air air pollution within the metropolis (18 to 38 per cent), adopted by industries (2 to 29 per cent), thermal energy crops (three to 11 per cent) and building (eight per cent).

(This story has been revealed from a wire company feed with out modifications to the textual content.)

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