Stubble Burning In Punjab Smothers Delhi, Haryana; Political Blame Game Continues

The pollution conundrum across Delhi, Punjab and Haryana during every October-November got a further spike yesterday as the cases of stubble burning in Punjab raised to 3.634, the highest in this season. As per the data of Ludhiana-based Punjab Remote Sensing Centre, the cumulative cases between September to November have now reached 21, 480, far ahead than its reported cases in last year- 17,921.

Notably, on November 2, the state had similar number of cases both in 2020 and 2021- 3,590 and 3.001 respectively. As per the reports, currently, the districts in Malwa region are witnessing a rising number of stubbles burning.

Out of total 3,634 farm fire incidents on Wednesday, Sangrur saw a whopping 677 cases, the highest number in the state, followed by 395 in Patiala, 342 in Ferozepur, 317 in Bathinda, 278 in Barnala, 198 in Ludhiana, 191 in Mansa, 173 each in Moga and Muktsar and 167 in Faridkot.

Just a day after such swathes of fires in farms, Delhi air quality stands at 'very poor' with AQI at 346. 

The farmers need to put their farms on fire to clear the crop residues for sowing the seeds of next crops – wheat and vegetables. This has been an issue of concern contributing significantly to the overall share of pollution several years for now. The major reason behind it is the short window for rabi crop wheat that has to be sown just after the paddy harvest. Punjab annually generates almost around 180 lac tonnes of paddy straw leading to such frequent stubble burning.

The pollution index across Haryana yesterday oscillated between poor and very poor while that of Punjab was ‘moderate’ to ‘poor’ category. As per the central pollution board Haryana's Bahadurgarh reported its air quality index at 352. Among the other areas in the state, Faridabad reported air quality at 348, followed by 337 in Jind, 323 in Gurgaon, 320 in Fatehabad, 299 in Sirsa, 283 in Sonipat, 277 in Hisar, 259 in Charkhi Dadri, 211 in Kurukshetra and 178 in Ambala.

In Punjab, the AQIs of Amritsar, Khanna, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Mandi Gobindgarh and Patiala stood at 165, 161, 251, 152, 138 and 163 respectively. AQI between 0-50 is considered “good”, 51-100 “satisfactory”, 101-200 “moderate”, 201-300 “poor”, 301-400 “very poor”, and 401-500 “severe”.

While the people across the three states are getting choked breathing the polluted air, political blame gaming is going in full swing.

Haryana CM putting blame on Punjab Government

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar yesterday had hit out at his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann over the stubble burning and said that Mann has been instigating farmers to put fire on their farms and putting unsubstantiated blames on the centre.

“Bhagwant Mann is instigating the farmers. Instead of levelling false allegations against the central government, he should chalk out a detailed strategy on stubble management,” an official statement from Khattar said.

Continuing his jibe against Mann for his failure to control the stubble burning Khattar said that AAP leader must learn from the BJP government in Haryana and should incentivise the farmers to refrain them from such acts.

“A provision of giving an incentive of Rs 1,000 per acre has been made by the Haryana government to those who do not burn stubble,” the statement noted.

He compared the cases of stubble burning between Punjab and Haryana and added, “So far in the year 2022, only 2,249 incidents of farm fires have been reported in Haryana, whereas in Punjab these incidents have increased by 20 per cent. So far, 21,500 such incidents have been reported in Punjab.”

Khattar also shot a fire at Delhi CM and AAP Chief Arvind Kejriwal for his ‘fake promises’ and said, “Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal earlier blamed the farmers of Punjab and Haryana for the pollution in Delhi and now his entire blame game has shifted to Haryana only as his party has come to power in Punjab.”

AAP blaming the Centre for increasing pollution

Earlier, both Bhagwant Mann and Arvind Kejriwal were found complaining about the inaction of the centre in restraining the cases of stubble burning. Mann claimed that the BJP is seeking revenge from the farmers of Punjab for participating in the anti-farm laws protests that led to the repealing of three controversial farm laws.

“The BJP wants to take revenge from the farmers as they broke the central government's arrogance with a very big agitation,” Mann said.

He also compared the condition of Punjab with the other neighbouring states and added, “It appears that Punjab and Delhi are only spreading pollution, while Switzerland is settled in surrounding areas.”

Mann also echoed the earlier allegations of Kejriwal who said that it was because of the centre that they couldn’t arrange incentives for the farmers. AAP government in Punjab proposed in July to the centre an incentive of Rs. 2500 per acre to the farmers for alternative stubble management. AAP asked centre to give Rs. 1500 while they promised to add the rest.

The centre, as per the Punjab government officials, however didn’t toe the line of the proposal citing that they have been providing them with subsidised machinery- such as happy seeders, rotavators and mulchers, for the in-situ management of paddy straw. The centre also said that it doesn’t have enough money to dole out for the incentives.

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and environment minister Gopal Rai earlier also raised the issue and said that the centre was continuously writing letters to the state governments to file FIR against the farmers who engage in the act of stubble burning. However, Kejriwal directly opposed such directives and said that if the centre fails to control the pollution, it must resign and leave it to AAP to learn how to do it.

‘Gas Chamber’ jibe by BJP

The union minister Bhupinder Yadav also has thrown his hat in the ring of political mudslinging and attributed the alleged 19% rise of farm fires in Punjab to the newly elected government.

Yadav said that the fire in farms of Punjab has turned the national capital to a ‘gas chamber’. Accusing the AAP government of scams and corruptions he added, “Scam is where AAP is. In the last 5 years, the central Government gave Rs 1,347 crore for crop residue management machines to Punjab. The state bought 1,20,000 machines. 11,275 of those machines have gone missing. Money utilisation shows clear incompetence.”

The Union Minister also claimed that last year, Rs 212 crore were left unspent. This year, the Centre gave Punjab Rs 280 crore for crop residue management machines. “So about Rs 492 crore was available but the state government chose to sit with the funds forcing helpless farmers to burn the crop residue,” he added.

Amidst the political blame game over the stubble burning, its share to Delhi pollution currently stands at 12%, said reports by SAFAR, a forecasting agency under the Ministry of Earth Sciences.