AGL 40.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.16 (-0.4%)
AIRLINK 129.53 Decreased By ▼ -2.20 (-1.67%)
BOP 6.68 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.15%)
CNERGY 4.63 Increased By ▲ 0.16 (3.58%)
DCL 8.94 Increased By ▲ 0.12 (1.36%)
DFML 41.69 Increased By ▲ 1.08 (2.66%)
DGKC 83.77 Decreased By ▼ -0.31 (-0.37%)
FCCL 32.77 Increased By ▲ 0.43 (1.33%)
FFBL 75.47 Increased By ▲ 6.86 (10%)
FFL 11.47 Increased By ▲ 0.12 (1.06%)
HUBC 110.55 Decreased By ▼ -1.21 (-1.08%)
HUMNL 14.56 Increased By ▲ 0.25 (1.75%)
KEL 5.39 Increased By ▲ 0.17 (3.26%)
KOSM 8.40 Decreased By ▼ -0.58 (-6.46%)
MLCF 39.79 Increased By ▲ 0.36 (0.91%)
NBP 60.29 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
OGDC 199.66 Increased By ▲ 4.72 (2.42%)
PAEL 26.65 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.15%)
PIBTL 7.66 Increased By ▲ 0.18 (2.41%)
PPL 157.92 Increased By ▲ 2.15 (1.38%)
PRL 26.73 Increased By ▲ 0.05 (0.19%)
PTC 18.46 Increased By ▲ 0.16 (0.87%)
SEARL 82.44 Decreased By ▼ -0.58 (-0.7%)
TELE 8.31 Increased By ▲ 0.08 (0.97%)
TOMCL 34.51 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.12%)
TPLP 9.06 Increased By ▲ 0.25 (2.84%)
TREET 17.47 Increased By ▲ 0.77 (4.61%)
TRG 61.32 Decreased By ▼ -1.13 (-1.81%)
UNITY 27.43 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.04%)
WTL 1.38 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (7.81%)
BR100 10,407 Increased By 220 (2.16%)
BR30 31,713 Increased By 377.1 (1.2%)
KSE100 97,328 Increased By 1781.9 (1.86%)
KSE30 30,192 Increased By 614.4 (2.08%)

KHAMANON: Smoke billows out of the fields in India’s Punjab state as several thousand acres of crop stubble are set on fire, wrapping surrounding areas in a thick, grey blanket.

The national capital Delhi and surrounding areas are enveloped in a layer of smog each winter as cold, heavy air traps construction dust, vehicle emissions and smoke from the crop stubble burning in the states of Punjab and Haryana.

Raging farm fires in these states have become a common sight as farmers burn crop waste to clear their fields after a harvest and prepare for the next sowing.

Typically, the harvesting of summer-sown crops starts in October and sowing for the winter crop is carried out a couple of weeks after the harvest.

Farmers in Punjab, known as India’s grain basket, claim they have no other option to get rid of their crop waste.

“If, instead of burning, the stubble has to be disposed off in any other manner, then that involves a lot of expenditure,” Paramjit Singh, general secretary of a prominent farmers’ union in Punjab, told Reuters.

But he said the stubble fires hurt locals more than the people in Delhi, about 280 km (170 miles) south of Khamanon town in Punjab’s Fatehgarh Sahib district.

“It will reach Delhi much later but the first (casualty) is the farmer because he is standing in the middle of it when he burns it,” said Singh, 45, standing in a field of burnt crop waste near Khamanon as orange flames consumed nearby fields.

“He is helpless, he is not lighting it up out of choice.”

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is in charge of the government in both Delhi and Punjab, has taken responsibility for failing to curb stubble burning and said last week that it aims to resolve the problem by November next year.

“We have distributed around 120,000 machines to the farmers that assist in destroying the crop residue without having to burn it down,” Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann told reporters.

Post-Diwali Delhi wakes to toxic firecracker smog

He said the Punjab Agricultural University had developed a mobile app to identify the location of these machines and the government has also set up a bio-energy plant for disposal of crop stubble.

The AAP has urged the federal government to facilitate joint meetings between the northern states to identify the causes of pollution and come up with solutions to address the problem.

A federal government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the centre has already disbursed funds to the state authorities to offer alternative ways to the farmers to move away from burning crop stubble.

Comments

Comments are closed.