Four-fold decline in Haryana, three-fold in UP in last two days

In the last couple of days, Punjab witnessed an over 50-fold decline in stubble burning instances from 520 on November 12 to just 10 on November 13, while Haryana had an over four-fold drop from 68 to 16 instances.

Uttar Pradesh registered about three-fold decline from 210 to 79. The latest figures on the basis of satellite imagery show that Uttar Pradesh may have registered an overall decline in the last two days but now has the dubious distinction of being ahead of Punjab and Haryana in terms of stubble burning instances.

As per data compiled by the Agriculture Ministry, the number of stubble burning cases has decreased from 792 on November 12 to 105 on November 13.  As per data, no stubble burning was detected Mahamayanagar, Jyotibaphule Nagar and Varanasi while  Agra, Hathras, Mahoba, Mau, Jaunpur recorded one incident each of farm fire till date. 

As many as 54,776 cases of stubble burning have been detected since October 1 in Punjab, Haryana and UP so far. Of them, 46,221 incidents were found in Punjab; 5,823 in Haryana and 2,732 in UP.

There was a decline of 12.4 per cent this year as compared to the last year till date. UP recorded 41.3 per cent decline, Haryana recorded 16.26 per cent decline and Punjab recorded 9.3 percent decline of stubble burning.

Delhi has been reeling under alarming pollution levels for the last couple of weeks due to a dip in temperature, a decrease in wind speed, huge vehicular pollution, construction pollution and stubble burning in the neighbouring states of Punjab, Haryana and UP.

Following the direction of the Supreme Court to provide financial support to small and marginal farmers to stop stubble burning, the Haryana Government has announced an additional Rs 1,000 an acre incentive for custom-hiring centres and straw baler units, to support their operational costs. The Rs 2,500 an acre has been calculated by assuming 25 quintals of paddy is harvested from an acre of land in Punjab and Haryana. UP, which also faces the problem of stubble burning, has decided to set-up biofuel plants in each district, where farmers can sell their waste stubble for generation of electricity.

UP has recorded reduction of farm fires in Mahamayanagar, Jyotibaphule Nagar, Sidharth Nagar, Agra, Jalaun, Hathras, Varanasi, Unnao, Sonbhadra, Sitapur, Shamli, Pratapgarh and Sambhal.   The data further shows Mathura, Pilibhit, Rampur, Sharanpur and Shaharanpur districts have recorded maximum number of incidents.

Sonipat, Rohtak, Rewari, Panchkula, Mewat, Panipat, Hisar, Jhajjar, Bhiwani and Faridabad in Haryana recorded minimum cases of stubble burning.

As per data, 23 cases recorded in Sonipat and Panipat each, 21 in Panchkula, 11 in  Rohtak, four in Gurugram, three in Rewari and Mewat each, two in Jhajjar and Mahendragarh each so far.  Kaithal recorded 1213 cases, Fatehabad 1035, Karnal 735, Jind 494, Ambala 334 and Sirsa 321 cases till date.

The data show Sas Nagar recorded 149, Roop Nagar 113, Pathankot six and Hosiyarpur 307 cases so far. Similarly, Taran Taran, Sangrur and Patiala recorded maximum cases of residue burning.