Sangrur reports most farm fires, next 10 days critical, say experts

The number of farm fires in Punjab have begun surging, with the past two days having recorded more than a fourth of the nearly 20,000 instances of stubble burning detected, and officials warned that more is likely to follow for at least nine more days.

- Navrajdeep Singh

Leading the surge is Sangrur, which includes the Dhuri legislative assembly constituency that chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Bhagwant Mann represents. Of the 2,060 cases reported on Monday, 509 were from the Sangrur district.

Farm fires in the state and in neighbouring Haryana are linked to the pollution crisis in the national Capital, where the AAP had in the past made it a health as well as a political issue. Delhi chief minister and AAP’s convener Arvind Kejriwal had last year taken responsibility for the farm and assured that the numbers would drop.