Chandigarh: Punjab recorded 345 farm fires on Sunday, with Sangrur witnessing 116 such incidents, taking the total case count in the state past 6,600.

From September 15 to November 10, Punjab saw 6,611 stubble-burning incidents, according to the Punjab Remote Sensing Centre data.

Among the districts, Sangrur reported 116 farm fire cases, followed by Mansa 44, Ferozepur 26, Moga and Faridkot 24 each and Muktsar 20.

Stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana after paddy harvesting in October and November is often blamed for the rise in air pollution in Delhi.

As the window for growing Rabi crops, especially wheat, after the paddy harvest is very short, some farmers set their fields on fire to quickly clear off the crop residue for the sowing of the next crop.

Punjab recorded a total of 36,663 farm fires in 2023, registering a 26 per cent drop in such incidents from the previous year. The state recorded 49,922 fire events in 2022, 71,304 in 2021, 76,590 in 2020, 55,210 in 2019 and 50,590 in 2018. 

 

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