Over 350 cases of farm fires reported in Punjab, highest in Sangrur

At least 379 incidents of farm fires were reported in Punjab, with Sangrur district witnessing the highest number of such incidents, PTI reported on Saturday.
With 66 cases, Sangrur continued to be the biggest contributor to the tally, followed by Ferozepur with 50 cases and Tarn Taran with 42 cases, as per the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB).
About 27 incidents of farm fires were reported from Amritsar, Bathinda 28, Moga 26, Patiala 21 and Kapurthala and Ludhiana 15 each, according to PTI.
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).
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, followed by Ferozepur with 70 cases and Tarn Taran with 59 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.
There has been a steep jump in the number of farm fires over the last few days.
A senior agriculture department official, pleading anonymity, told Hindustan Times, that the window to sow the next crop is shrinking for farmers.
“The window to sow the next crop is shrinking as farmers have to sow wheat by November 15 to get good yield. Thus, they are resorting to stubble burning to clear paddy fields for the next crop,” the officials said.
Stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana after the harvesting of the paddy crop in October-November is often blamed for the rise in air pollution levels in Delhi.
The state recorded 36,663 farm fires in 2023, registering a 26-per cent drop in such incidents compared to the previous year.
It recorded 49,922 stubble-burning incidents in 2022, 71,304 in 2021, 76,590 in 2020, 55,210 in 2019 and 50,590 in 2018, according to PTI.