CHANDIGARH/NEW DELHI: A day after the Supreme Court gave a tongue-lashing to the governments of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh over stubble and garbage burning and ordered an immediate halt on it, Punjab reported 6,668 cases of farm fire on Tuesday, the highest in a single day.
According to satellite data collected by Punjab Remote-Sensing Centre, Sangrur and Bathinda reported the highest number of farm fires at 1,007 and 945, respectively.
A review of air pollution in north India by Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba found that crop residue burning continued unabated. During the daily review, it was observed that “the cases of crop stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana still continue and that there is a need for more focused action”, a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said.
On Monday, Punjab had reported 5,953 incidents of farm fires, with the total cases reaching 31,267, according to data of Punjab Agriculture University.
However, Consortium on Research for Agroecosystem Monitoring and Modelling from Space (CREAMS) of the Indian Agriculture Research Institute reported a total of 31,402 stubble burning incidents in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh from October 1 to November 3 — 25,366 incidents in Punjab, 4,414 in Haryana and 1,622 in UP. In these three states, there has been a reduction of 12.01 per cent in incidents of stubble burning compared to the same period in 2018, it said. UP, Haryana and Punjab recorded a reduction of 48.2% , 11.7% and 8.7%, respectively, this year.