Farm fires in Punjab, Hry up from same stage last year

The number of farm fires in Delhi's neighbouring states-Punjab and Haryana have increased in the period from September to October when compared to the corresponding time in 2022, a month-long satellite data collated by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) has revealed.

- Jasjeev Gandhiok

However, while farm fires in Haryana have increased nearly three times from 168 instances last year to 542 this year, there has only been a marginal increase in the case of Punjab with 1,238 farm fires recorded last year and 1,388 this year, the data showed. The data collected was from September 15 to October 15.

According to experts, however, an early withdrawal of the west monsoon and the subsequent early harvesting this year have advanced stubble-burning dates as well. But a clear trend will emerge only towards the end of October, they added.

To be sure, early harvesting can only be beneficial for the air quality if the meteorological conditions are also favourable, like at present, when the temperatures are a couple of notches above normal and accompanied by good windspeed both aiding the consistent dispersal of air pollutants.

Delhi's air quality index (AQI) has oscillated between the "moderate" and "poor" categories for the past couple of weeks. The current rise in temperature is also owing to an approaching western disturbance, which has made the sky cloudy and might bring rain on Monday and Tuesday, the India Meteorological Department has said.