AMBALA: Haryana has recorded a dip of about 48.28 per cent in the number of cases of stubble burning by the farmers in their fields during this paddy season as compared to last year between the time period from September 15 to November 1.
In Haryana, the paddy bowl districts of Ambala, Fatehabad, Jind, Kaithal, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Sirsa and Yamunanagar have recorded a considerable dip in the number of stubble burning cases.
Ambala had recorded a dip of about 75 per cent with 746 cases in 2020 and 186 in 2021.
Similarly, Kurukshetra recorded a dip of 43 per cent in the same tenure with 811 cases in 2020 to 459 cases in 2021.
Yamunanagar also recorded a dip of about 71 per cent with 399 cases in 2020 and 113 cases in 2021.
Overall, the entire Haryana state has recorded a dip of 48.28 per cent with 5,875 cases in 2020 to 3,038 cases in 2021 between September 15 to November 1 in both years.
The officials of district administrations claim that the decline has been recorded due to continuous vigil and awareness programmes and identifying the red and yellow zone villages and areas, where there have been most cases of stubble burning in the past and present.
Recently on November 3, additional chief secretary (ACS) Sumita Mishra of Haryana agriculture and farmers welfare department-cum-commission for Air Quality Management held a meeting with district administrative officials of Ambala, Kurukshetra, Karnal, Jind, Kaithal, Fatehabad districts and discussed the issues of stubble burning and air quality. Director general of the agriculture department Haryana Hardeep Singh was also present in the meeting.
The record of active fire locations (AFLs) was also reviewed by the officials in the meeting and the work done by the district-level officials and the ground-level employees was appreciated.
Districts including Ambala, Sirsa, Yamunanagar, Jind, Fatehabad have respectively recorded a very positive dip in the stubble burning cases. However, the hotspots or the paddy bowl of Haryana's district including Kaithal, Karnal, Kurukshetra have still recorded a fair number of cases. Kaithal recorded 775 cases this year as compared to 1096 in 2020 (about 29 per cent dip), Karnal is 740 cases this year compared to 949 in 2020 (22.02 per cent dip).
Ambala deputy commissioner (DC) Vikram Singh said a big decline has been recorded in the stubble burning cases as compared to the last years.
In Kurukshetra, this year the administration has issued fine to about 330 people and realised the fine of about Rs 6.95 lakh.
Kurukshetra DC Mukul Kumar said, "The agriculture department teams confirmed 375 cases of stubble burning and the teams have issued fine of Rs 6.95 lakh to 300 people. The teams are working day and night to keep the vigil on the incidents of stubble burning."
As per the daily bulletin of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) the AQI of Ambala on Thursday was moderate at an index value of 198 and it turned to Very Poor at 301 on Friday. Similarly, the AQI of Kurukshetra on Thursday was Poor at 254 and on Friday it is Very Poor at 354. In Yamunanagar, AQI on Thursday was Poor at 204 and it remained Poor at 205 on Friday too.
