Farm fires incidents fall over last year, unusual weather plays spoiler

Wind speed rise from Nov 11 may blow away pollutants, but stubble burning cases likely to go up after Diwali

A toxic haze continues to blanket the national capital, with the air quality index hovering below 400. The usual villain responsible for the annual smog crisis in Delhi and adjoining areas is, however, missing in action.

Data analysed by research agencies and reviewed by Business Standard shows a significant reduction in farm fire incidents across Punjab and Haryana, pointing at climatological and meteorological factors causing havoc on the city’s already worsened air quality.

According to the data collated by Climate Trends, the total farm fire incidents recorded in Punjab between October 1 and November 5 fell 47.8 per cent to 14,255 from 27,401 recorded in the year-ago period.

In Haryana, the total farm fire incidents recorded during the period stood at 1,845, which is a 38.04 per cent decrease over the same period last year. The data was collected from Nasa Earth and the Central Pollution Control Board.

Climate Trends in its analysis said a study of wind trajectory data highlights a strong correlation between wind direction originating from Punjab and Haryana and the resulting pollution levels in Delhi.

Senior India Meteorological Department officials said wind speed in the past few days had been abnormally low at just around 5-6 km per hour (kmph) and had been moving from the north-westerly direction, that is from Punjab and Haryana.

On whether this has caused a spike in pollution levels, the officials said they weren’t capable of commenting on this as their job was to monitor meteorological and climatological factors.

However, Mahesh Palawat, vice-president at the Meteorology and Climate Change at private weather forecasting agency Skymet Weather, said meteorological factors were the only reason for this sudden spike in pollution levels in the national capital. “The wind speed is very low, which is why the pollutants are not able to get disbursed and they hang around the land surface, causing immense discomfort to the people,” Palawat said.

If the wind speed was around 15-20 kmph, as against the current 3-5 kmph, it would not have been as discomforting because the pollutants get carried away and don’t hang around a certain area, he said.

“The air is heavy during early morning, so the pollutants get mixed with mist and haze, and gather weight. When there is no wind, all these hang around closer to the land surface, which gives the smoky and cloudy look to the atmosphere,” Palawat said.

From November 11, there is the possibility of wind speed increasing up to 15-20 kmph, which should blow away the pollutants, he said.

According to a senior IMD official, the wind direction from Tuesday onwards has changed from north-westerly to east and south-easterly, which could also mean that smoke from the stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana would become less dominant over Delhi and its adjoining regions.

Happy days, however, might not last long as the cases of farm fires are feared to go up with paddy harvesting picking up after Diwali in Punjab and Haryana. Farm labours, majorly from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, would return to these two states. The harvesting is also delayed because excess rains in the first half of the monsoon season inundated fields in both the states, prompting farmers to replant paddy in several districts.