Farm fires rise in Pb, Hry as Delhi starts spraying bio-decomposer

New Delhi: Even as Punjab and Haryana have started reporting a spike in farm fires (stubble burning) — especially after the monsoon started withdrawing, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Monday kicked off the Delhi government's spraying of the bio-decomposer solution on paddy fields to avoid stubble burning.

The minister also released a number, 9643844287, for farmers who have not yet availed of the service of the bio-decomposer.

The microbial solution, which can turn stubble into manure in 15 to 20 days, will be sprayed over 4,000 acres of harvested rice fields in Delhi - for free by the Delhi government.

A total of 844 farmers in the capital have applied for free spraying of the solution this year. Last year, 310 farmers had used it on 1,935 acres of land.

"The smoke from farm fires has started affecting Delhi's air quality. We appeal to the Centre's Commission for Air Quality Management and neighbouring states to use bio-decomposer to prevent stubble burning. It should be a joint effort. If we miss out, it will be very difficult to save people from high pollution levels," he said.

According to officials, Uttar Pradesh will be using bio-decomposer in 10 lakh acres of area, Punjab in five lakh acres and Haryana in one lakh acres.

However, the latest report from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) suggests that stubble burning has seen a sharp rise since the monsoon season got over but that this year farm fires could be less than those reported last year.

Between September 15 and October 10, Punjab has recorded 764 incidents of crop residue burning in 2021 compared to 2,586 in the corresponding period last year.

Haryana has recorded 196 farm fires so far against 353 logged during the period last year.

IARI data shows the number of farm fires remained considerably low till October 6, when the southwest monsoon started withdrawing from northwest India.

Punjab recorded only 63 stubble burning incidents from October 1 to October 5 as compared to 486 cases from October 6 to October 10.

Similarly, Haryana recorded 17 such events from October 1 to October 5 compared to 172 cases from October 6 to October 10, the IARI data showed.

Vinay Sehgal, a scientist at IARI, said the number of farm fires remained low till the first week of October because of the delayed paddy harvesting on account of an extended monsoon season.

Though stubble burning has increased since October 6, the daily number is still low as compared to 2020, Sehgal added.