NEW DELHI: The paddy harvesting season has returned in north India, and so have the days of suffocating air in the city. Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena on Saturday wrote to Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann and raised a red flag on the rise in crop residue burning events.
Saxena said farm fire events in Haryana recorded between September 15 and October 11 reached 340, which is three times the number the state reported in the same period last year. In Punjab, the number is 1,063, 300 more than the previous year’s number. “The smog and debilitating air pollution creates a bad international image,” Saxena stated.