Stubble burning in Punjab may worsen air quality; farmers share ordeal

The air quality in Punjab is expected to deteriorate as farmers in Chatiwind village have started to burn the stubble post the harvest season. The air quality had improved due to an imposition of nationwide lockdown by the Centre to contain the spread of coronavirus.

Farmers are prohibited to burn the farm residue as it worsens Delhi's air quality. The stubble burning practice is not only responsible for polluting the environment but is also rendering the soil less fertile.

"We don't have any other option but to burn the farm residues," said Joginder Singh, a farmer in Chatiwind village to ANI. "We have incurred huge losses this year as we could only produce 12 to 14 quintal. per acre crop instead of last years' 20-21 quintal," he added.

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Last year, the government agency System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting (SAFAR) blamed stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana for the poor quality of air in Delhi. The share of stubble burning from the neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana in Delhi's pollution rose to 46 per cent on a day in 2019, the highest in 2019, government agency System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting (SAFAR) said.

Another farmer of the village, Kehar Singh said, "If we use electricity to burn the residues, it will cost us Rs 6,000 per acre. But, we are provided with electricity for 2 hours in a day and the government is not even offering us compensation for this." According to Kehar, the farmers' community is prepared to deal with any legal matter coming up while he said, "It is wrong to accuse us when the government has failed to provide with the essential resources."

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Punjab witnessed a spurt in wheat stubble burning incidents

Punjab witnessed a spurt in wheat stubble burning incidents with the number of fire incidents surpassing 11,000 from April 15 to May 22 period in 2019. According to satellite data provided by Ludhiana-based Punjab Remote Sensing Centre, 11,844 wheat stubble burning incidents were reported in the state.

The figure of fire incidents in the corresponding period of 2018 and 2019 was 10,993 and 10,114 respectively, the data showed. 

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(with inputs from ANI)

(Image credits: PTI)