NEW DELHI: Punjab and Haryana have recorded more incidents of stubble burning this season so far compared to last year and it is largely due to early harvesting of paddy and unavailability of farm labour due to the coronavirus pandemic, officials said.
According to the Punjab Pollution Control Board, the state has recorded 4,585 farm fires this season so far compared to 1,631 such incidents during the corresponding period last year. Haryana has also recorded an increase in farm fires - from around 1,200 incidents till October 16 last year to 2,016 this year.
However, Karunesh Garg, Member Secretary of the Punjab Pollution Control Board said that the number of stubble burning incidents seem large because of early harvesting of paddy in this calender year. "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 said.
The monsoon season continued until September-end last year, delaying harvesting of paddy, Garg said. He further said that it was wrong to blame Punjab for Delhi’s bad air. “Stubble burning in Punjab may be a factor but its contribution to New Delhi’s pollution is less than one per cent,” Garg asserted.
An official from the Haryana government said the number of farm fires in the state has “significantly increased” as compared to last year. “It can be attributed to unavailability of farm labour due to the pandemic.” Meanwhile, The national capital’s air quality was recorded in the “poor” category on Saturday and the share of stubble burning in the city’s PM2.5 pollution stood at 19 per cent, according to a central government agency. The share of stubble burning was 18 per cent on Friday, around one per cent on Wednesday and around 3 per cent on Tuesday, Monday and Sunday.