1,300 cases in first month against 2,000 last year

Chandigarh: While authorities recently claimed to have taken enough precautions to stop stubble burning cases, the return of farm burning has again raised fear of heavy air pollution days in the national capital and other cities ahead of the upcoming winter season.

As per the latest data from the Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI) working under the union ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare, all three affected states – Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh – recorded 1,292 cases in the first month of monitoring between September 15 and October 14.

Punjab, as usual, is leading with 1,069 cases, followed by Haryana (132 cases) and UP (91 cases). Delhi has reported two cases so far.

Last year’s corresponding data suggest that burning cases between September 15 and October 14 in 2021 were 2,078 (1,286 in Punjab, 487 in Haryana and 305 in UP).

But it is too early to celebrate the dip in numbers. Data suggests that the heavy rainfall in the past few days mainly hindered the farm burnings.

As per the IARI data, the satellite just recorded 74 cases (in Punjab, Haryana and UP) during rain-stricken days between September 24 and September 29 and then October 8 and October 11.

On the contrary, the total cases recorded during these nine days in these three states were a whopping 1,523 in 2021.

Following rainfall, stubble burning has become even more necessary. The late rain in the region has delayed the paddy harvesting by 10 days to two weeks, therefore leaving a much narrower window for the next wheat crop sowing.

As witnessed in previous years, the narrow gap between harvesting and sowing has emerged as a key reason for the hike in stubble burning cases as it is the fastest way to clear the fields before the next sowing. Rainfall has further narrowed it down, creating an apt situation for burning cases to increase.

Officials in Punjab and Haryana confirmed to Newsdrum that chances of stubble fires reaching peak can’t be ruled out after the third week of October.

Last year too, stubble burning especially in Punjab breached 500 per day from October 19 and reached a single-day count of 5,100 by November 5. It was during the same time that air quality in Delhi and nearby towns became very poor to severe.

Total burning cases in Punjab in 2021 were 71,304 followed by 6987 in Haryana and 4242 in UP, IARI data revealed.

Farmers are defiant even as states focus on the in-situ model.

Ahead of the harvesting, the union ministry of agriculture held a meeting with affected states and revealed that these states would again try to contain the problem by distributing more in-situ (mixing stubble in soil) machines at subsidised rates.

Of the 2 lakh machines distributed at the subsidy cost of Rs. 2,400 crores since 2018, Punjab received 90,000 machines followed by Haryana (59,000) and UP (58,000).

50,000 more machines are being sent this year in all these three states at the subsidy grant of Rs. 700 crore to further help farmers to contain the problem, revealed a PIB press note dated September 21.

However, farmers especially in Punjab are openly saying these machines are no viable solution for them to stop burning cases.

Farm leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal told Newsdrum that most of the farmers in Punjab are small and marginal. They can’t afford to buy these machines even at a subsidised cost. Then there is a huge operating cost to run these machines.

Hitting at the AAP government in Punjab, Dallewal said that chief minister Bhagwant Mann had promised to pay Rs. 2,500 per acre as cash compensation to farmers so that they could manage the expenses to be incurred on handling the stubble rather than burning them.

“But he did not keep the promise. In that situation how do governments expect us to respond positively when we are helpless, he said.

The AAP government on the other hand put the whole blame on the BJP-ruled centre, saying that they had asked the Modi government to contribute Rs. 1,500 per acre in their plan to give Rs. 2,500 per acre cash compensation to farmers. But it denied the proposal.

Amid this blame-game, Haryana has already announced a Rs. 1,000 per acre subsidy and is quite hopeful that this will incentivise farmers to stay away from burning.

Haryana agriculture director Hardeep Kadian told Newsdrum that subsidy is available for both in-situ (use of machine or decomposer) and ex-situ (sending the stubble for industrial use) methods.

“A portal is already opened for farmers to make registration. We will transfer the amount after the end of the season. In case our satellite is found burning in the applicant’s fields, money will not be transferred,” he added.

Haryana is also making good use of bio-decomposer, which AAP national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal once pitched as a game changer in overcoming the stubble burning problem.

Despite AAP now ruling Punjab, bio-decomposer is not used in more than 5,000 acres in the state, mainly because farmers were not enthusiastic about using it simply because it was taking 25-30 days to dissolve the stubble inside the fields and they had little time in switching over from paddy crop to wheat.

In Haryana, farmers have similar scepticism but the agriculture department has been popularising the bio-decomposer solution and has fixed the target to use it on 5 Lakh acres.

While it remains to be seen how much these claims transit into fruitful action, the coming days are nonetheless crucial. With the festival of Diwali also coinciding with the stubble-burning season, the major worry is the dip in the air quality and its negative impact on human health.

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) already sounded a warning on Friday that Delhi's air quality is likely to deteriorate to the poor category in the next few days.