Farm Fires

Punjab and Haryana have imposed fines exceeding Rs 2.1 crore and Rs 21 lakh respectively, on farmers for stubble burning in 2024, with more than 50 per cent of penalties collected

In Delhi, all reported cases were concentrated in the North and North West districts. Delhi's air quality remained in the 'severe' category on Monday, with an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 494

The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Centre and the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) to procure data from geostationary satellites on farm fire instances instead of from NASA polar-orbiting satellites. The data of farm fires throughout the day can thus be made available to the state to enable them to take immediate action, it directed. A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih noted that ISRO is taking data from NASA satellites which pass over the NCR region around 10.30 am to 1.30 pm daily and the instances of farm fires which are captured by satellite are only for this limited period. The bench said senior advocate Aprajita Singh, who has been appointed as amicus curiae, pointed out that a Korean satellite, which is a stationary one, has captured data of farm fires at 4.20 pm. It said that the amicus has pointed out that there may be a difference between the data of farm fires which may be collected through stationary satellites and the one which

Punjab recorded 379 farm fires on Saturday, with Sangrur district witnessing the highest number of 66 such incidents, taking the total case count in the state past 3,900. The state registered the current season's biggest spike in farm fires on Friday with 587 cases. Sangrur had reported the highest number of 79 cases. From September 15 to November 2, the state has seen 3,916 farm-fire cases, according to data from the Punjab Remote Sensing Centre. Ferozepur district reported 50 farm fires on Saturday, Tarn Taran 42, Amritsar 27, Bathinda 28, Moga 26, Patiala 21 and Kapurthala and Ludhiana 15 each. The districts with farm-fire cases in single digits included Fazilka (one), Rupnagar (two), Hoshiarpur (two), Faridkot (six), Jalandhar (eight), Malerkotla (five), Barnala (six) and SBS Nagar (three). Punjab reported 484 farm fires on Thursday, with Sangrur recording the highest number of 89 cases. There has been a steep jump in the number of farm fires over the last few days. The stat

Farm fires in Punjab, often blamed for the rise in Delhi's air pollution, have gone down by 50 per cent since last year in the post-harvest period, with little effect on the air quality in the national capital. From September 15 to October 27, Punjab has seen 1,995 farm fire cases as compared to 4,059 in the corresponding period last year, as per data from the Punjab Remote Sensing Centre. The farm fire incidents in the period have gone down by 75 per cent since 2022. The state recorded 8,147 farm fires in 2022 in this period. After paddy harvesting in October and November, stubble burning in Punjab, Haryana and states adjacent to Delhi are said to contribute to pollution in Delhi. Paddy procurement is underway in Punjab. On Sunday, Punjab saw 138 farm fires -- Ferozepur with highest such incidents, followed by Sangrur and Fatehgarh Sahib, according to data. On the same day in 2022 and 2023, the state had seen 1,111 and 766 farm fires, respectively. The drop in farm fire cases, .

Farmers are opposing Punjab's plan to introduce "red entries" in land records for those caught burning paddy stubble-a major contributor to air pollution during winter

Wildfires in Oregon have burned more acres of land in 2024 than in any year since reliable records began, authorities said Friday, with the mid-August peak of fire season still on the horizon. Blazes have scorched more than 1.4 million acres, or nearly 2,200 square miles (5,700 square kilometers), Northwest Interagency Coordination Center spokesperson Carol Connolly said. That's more than any other year since 1992, when reliable records began to be kept, she said, and surpasses the previous record set in 2020. Connolly said 71 large fires have burned the vast majority of the land this year. Large fires are defined as those that consume more than 100 acres (40 hectares) of timber or more than 300 acres (120 hectares) of grass or brush. Thirty-two homes in the state have been lost to the fires, she said, which have been fueled by high temperatures, dry weather and low humidity. They have prompted evacuation notices across the state and largely torched rural and mountain areas, althou

Farmer leaders in Punjab on Wednesday accused the Centre and the state government of not making proper arrangements for stubble management and said it is vehicular and industrial pollution which affects the air quality in Delhi and not farm fire. They also said the governments should guarantee minimum support price on alternative crops such as maize and pulses to wean away growers from the water-guzzling paddy crop, which is not even native to Punjab. Their remarks came a day after the Supreme Court, while hearing a matter related to stubble burning, observed farmers are being made "villains" and that they have not been heard. A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia had also suggested why should there be any purchase under the minimum support price (MSP) system from farmers who indulge in crop residue burning, irrespective of the fact that citizens and children were affected due to pollution. Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) general secretary Sukhdev Singh ...

Several farmer bodies in Punjab on Monday held protests at the offices of deputy commissioners and sub-divisional magistrates at many places, seeking withdrawal of cases registered against farmers for burning stubble. The protesting farmers, who also demanded a long-lasting solution for paddy straw, brought stubble-laden trolleys to several offices of DCs and SDMs. The call for the four-hour protest was given by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (non-political) and 18 other farmer bodies. The agitating farmers demanded withdrawal of legal actions, including registration of FIRs and rollback of the fine imposed on farmers for burning crop residue. They also demanded an increase in sugarcane rates and a fair compensation for land acquisition under the Bharatmala projects. In Moga, a group of farmers, who were bringing stubble in tractor-trolleys, said they were stopped from entering the DC office complex for staging a 'dharna'. One of the farmers even lied in front of a police vehicle, deman

Minister Gopal Rai shared that so far, teams have carried out on-site inspections of 3895 construction sites under GRAP in view of the worsening air quality in Delhi.

Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai will on Thursday hold a meeting with departments on the effective implementation of measures outlined in the Centre's air pollution control plan, officials said. The meeting will be held at the Delhi Secretariat at 1 pm, an official said. Rai had previously reprimanded the departments concerned for their negligence in executing the air pollution control plan and urged them to establish a monitoring mechanism for overseeing the teams responsible for enforcing anti-air pollution measures. Delhi's air quality fluctuated between the 'very poor' and 'severe' categories on Thursday due to unfavourable meteorological conditions hindering the dispersion of pollutants. The capital's Air Quality Index stood at 393 at 9 am on Thursday. Its 24-hour average AQI, recorded at 4 pm every day, stood at 401 on Wednesday. It was 397 on Tuesday. It was 358 on Monday and 218 on Sunday, 220 on Saturday, 279 on Friday and 437 on Thursday. Recent findings from a joint

Punjab on Saturday reported 104 farm fires, taking the total number of stubble-burning incidents to 23,730 while air quality indices in Haryana and the border state were in 'satisfactory' and 'moderate' categories. The fresh figure of farm fires in Punjab was much lower than what the state was witnessing a few days ago. Paddy straw burning in Punjab and Haryana is considered one of the reasons behind the alarming spike in air pollution levels in Delhi in October and November. Only six cases of stubble burning were reported in Punjab on Friday as rains lashed many parts of the state. Out of 105 stubble-burning incidents reported on Saturday, crop residue burning was seen in only 10 districts in Punjab. Sangrur district topped with 43 cases, followed by 22 in Mansa, 13 in Fazilka, eight in Fatehgarh Sahib, four each in Ludhiana and Muktsar, three each in Malerkotla, Patiala and Bathinda and one in Ferozepur, according to Ludhiana-based Punjab Remote Sensing Centre data. On the same

The Supreme Court on Friday said that crop residue burning in Punjab and some other states adjacent to Delhi have to be stopped and solution has to found to reduce the pollution level in the national capital region (NCR). While hearing a matter relating to the debilitating air pollution in the Delhi-NCR, a bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul observed there were several reports and committees on the pollution issue, but nothing was happening at the ground level. The bench, also comprising Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Ahsanuddin Amanullah, said the apex court wanted to see the results. The Supreme Court was informed that every endeavour was being made to bring farm fires under control. The top court is seized of a plea filed in 1985 by environmentalist M C Mehta on air pollution and the issue of crop residue burning had arisen during the hearing of the matter.

As per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the Air Quality Index (AQI) for Bathinda on November 9 was 372, which is very poor.

According to the data collated by Climate Trends, in Punjab, during October 1 - November 5, the total farm fire incidents recorded stand at 14,255, which is a 47.8 per cent decrease

The minister said that as per the Centre's data, cases of stubble burning in Punjab have been reduced

Punjab reported 1,068 farm fires on Sunday, the highest in a single day in the current harvesting season as paddy growers continue to burn crop residue. Out of 1,068 stubble burning incidents witnessed on Sunday, among the districts Sangrur reported a maximum 181, followed by 155 in Ferozepur, 133 in Tarn Taran, 83 in Patiala and 66 in Mansa, according to the data of the Ludhiana-based Punjab Remote Sensing Centre. On the same day in 2021 and 2022, the state had seen 1,353 and 1,898 farm fires, respectively. From September 15 till October 29, the state witnessed a total of 5,254 farm fire incidents as against 12,112 such cases in corresponding period last year, showing 57 per cent decline in number of farm fire incidents. The state had reported 8,856 farm fires during the same period in 2021. Out of the total 5,254 farm fires reported so far, Amritsar constituted the bulk of crop residue burning cases at 1,060, followed by 646 in Tarn Taran, 590 in Patiala, 540 in Sangrur and 505

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday demanded that the Haryana government should take proactive measures to control farm fires that have shown a rising trend in the state this year as compared ro previous years. Addressing a press conference, Haryana AAP senior vice president Anurag Dhanda alleged inaction on the part of the Haryana government in controlling the situation. "There are satellite images that indicate there is a rising trend in farm fires this time. Why is this happening despite the government claiming to have taken several steps in controlling them? The Haryana government needs to take steps to ensure that people do not face the ill-effects of pollution," he added. AAP chief national spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar cited the various measures taken by the Punjab and Delhi governments to tackle the problem. "It is the political will of CM Arvind Kejriwal and the consistent efforts of the people of Delhi in the war against pollution that in the Economic Survey 2021-22 report

Govt must not let agri protests escalate

Farm fire incidents crossed the 30,000 mark in Punjab with the state witnessing 2,487 stubble-burning cases on Monday. With fresh crop residue burning incidents, the cumulative farm fire cases from September 15 to November 7, rose to 32,486, according to the Ludhiana-based Punjab Remote Sensing Centre data. The state reported 57,696 and 37,933 farm fires during the same period in 2020 and 2021, respectively. Out of a total of 2,487 farm fire incidents on Monday, Ferozepur witnessed 353 crop residue burning incidentsthe highest in the state, followed by 268 in Moga, 257 in Muktsar, 256 in Batala, 218 in Faridkot, 202 in Barnala, 180 in Sangrur, 177 in Fazilka and 165 in Mansa, according to the data. Punjab had seen 4,716 and 5,199 active fire incidents on November 7 in 2020 and 2021, respectively, as per the data. Currently, the districts in the Malwa region are reporting a rising number of stubble-burning incidents. Due to stubble burning, many places in Haryana on Monday evening