Do early harvesting and burning of stubble increase ‘field fires’ in Punjab and Haryana? What does Delhi’s AQI data show? – Gudstory

Experts suggest that early withdrawal of the south-west monsoon resulted in early harvest this year as well as postponement of stubble burning dates.

While Haryana has seen almost three times the number of farm fires, rising from 168 last year to 542 this year, Punjab has seen only a marginal increase, with 1,388 farm fires this year compared to 1,238 last year. Is.

Delhi’s air quality index (AQI) has been in the “moderate” to “poor” category for the past few weeks. According to the India Meteorological Department, a rise in temperature is also expected due to the incoming western disturbance, which may lead to rain on Monday and Tuesday.

According to data from the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), the peak contribution of farm fires to Delhi’s PM2.5 usually occurs in the first week of November. Last year, the highest single-day contribution of farm fires in Delhi was 34%, recorded on November 3.

“Overall, there has not been much difference in farm fires because harvesting started earlier than normal,” said VK Sehgal, a professor and principal scientist at IARI and member of the Consortium for Research on Agroecosystem Monitoring and Modeling from Space (CREAMS). ” “Last year, due to rain, harvesting in large parts of Punjab and Haryana was delayed till the second week of October.”

Data is collected from each state in CREAMS before being sent to the Union Environment Ministry and Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM). Sehgal further said, “Early harvesting and subsequent burning of stubble may give the impression that there are more fires this time, but more crops have also been harvested, causing the numbers to rise.”

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Dipankar Saha, former head of the Central Pollution Control Board’s air laboratory, said, “If harvesting is done early and the stalks are burnt earlier, the impact on air quality will not be as drastic because meteorological conditions, such as good wind speed and Higher temperatures help spread pollutants,” reported Hindustan Times,

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Updated: October 16, 2023, 07:04 am IST