As many as 222 incidents of stubble burning took place across Punjab and Haryana in the month of September, with Amritsar and Tarn Taran being hotspots, according to a data from the National Aeronautics and Space Research Administration. NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System mapped the fire incidents, that lead to critical air pollution in the national capital every year.
Stubble burning and the subsequent pollution seeping inside Delhi is an annual phenomenon as farmers from Punjab and Haryana burn early sown paddy this time of the year, to make way for new vegetables. “Some farmers in Amritsar and Tarn Taran, who grow vegetables, are clearing the early sown varieties of paddy. It happens every year,” Krunesh Garg, member secretary of the Punjab Pollution Control Board told Down To Earth.
Kejriwal’s 15-point action plan
To tackle the problem of air pollution, Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) National convenor Arvind Kejriwal will be launching a 15-point action plan to fight air pollution ahead of winters on Friday.
The Delhi government has already started implementing its Winter Action Plan, as part of which it is now compulsory for construction sites with an area of 5,000 sq metres or more to install anti-smog guns. Now Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) measures will be implemented 3 days in advance based on forecasts before the air quality worsens, reported news agency ANI on Wednesday.
Stubble burning season commences
Stubble burning refers to clearing the stalks after paddy has been harvested is a widely-used method in India. Farmers of Punjab and Haryana prefer early sown varieties of paddy over the traditional way of sowing paddy using saplings. These varities are sown in June, and hence require less water due to the monsoon season. The stubble is clearing around this time of the year, ahead of Diwali which naturally leads to incidents of stubble burning across both states.
According to Objective evaluation of stubble emission of North India and quantifying its impact on air quality of Delhi published in 2018, stubble burning isn’t single-handedly responsible to pollution in Delhi. Many factors like direction and speed of wind also play a role.
Fire incidents to peak around mid-October
Owing to a significant delay in retreating monsoon this year across North-West India, scientists and weather officials have warned that incidents of stubble burning may peak around mid-October. These fires may coincide with Diwali which will be celebrated this year on October 24.
“Crop fires have started appearing in satellite observations over part of Pakistan while the region is still very cloudy,” Pawan Gupta, a research scientist at the Goddard Earth Sciences Technology and Research, Universities Space Research Association told New Indian Express.
NASA maps fire incidents across Punjab, Haryana
NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System mapped fire incidents across Punjab and Haryana in the month of September. The map showed red dots indicating farm fires appearing in the northwest region, including parts of Pakistan, Punjab and Haryana. Most of the dots could be seen over Punjab, including those in Amritsar, Tarn Taran and Jalandhar, among others.
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