16-10-2021 The Asian Independent

14 16-10-2021 to 31-10-2021 NEWS
www.theasianindependent.co.uk
Farm fires in Punjab this year till now
less than last year's, but more than 2019
New Delhi. The government has
claimed that the number of farm
fires in Punjab, Haryana and
eight districts of Uttar Pradesh
falling in the NCR this season
have gone down compared to
last year. But the numbers for
Punjab till October 13, even if
way less than last year's, are
more than that in 2019.
It is the season of Kharif crop
harvesting in north-west India.
Despite measures by the multiple
government departments,
such as providing happy seeders
and harvester machines, the
farmers in Punjab and Haryana
resort to stubble burning with the
pollution ultimately travelling to
Delhi-NCR. The farmers resort
to stubble burning owing to short
window between harvesting
Kharif crop and sowing for Rabi.
Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO) has been
monitoring farm fires on a daily
basis for many years now.
According to the ISRO data, the
cumulative fire count from
October 1 till October 13 for the
year 2019 was 715; for 2020 it
was 2413 and this year, it is 842.
The numbers show that the
stubble burning, called Parali
burning in popular parlance, is
definitely less this year till
October 13 compared to last
year, but it is more than the number
of such incidents 2019.
Amritsar and Tarn Taran districts
lead almost all three years
among the most farm fire incident
districts, the others being
Amritsar, Ferozpur, Gurdaspur,
Kapurthala, FG Sahib and
Faridkot.
The data for three years
shows that Amritsar registered
244 farm fires in 2019, 682
instances in 2020 and till Oct 13
this year, the number stands at
211; Tarn Taran district registered
143 farm fires in 2019, 598
in the year 2020 and 211 till Oct
13 this year; Ferozpur registered
30 farm fires in 2019, 138 in
year 2020 and 31 till now this
year; Gurdaspur had 22 farm
fires in 2019, 162 in 2020 and
just 34 this year till Oct 13;
Kapurthala registered 20, 69 and
41 farm fire incidents in 2019,
2020 and 2021 respectively;
Faridkot registered 11, 52 and 17
while FG Sahib registered 06, 48
and 46 incidents in 2019, 2020
and 2021 till October 13 respectively.
On Friday, the government
claimed that paddy residue burning
events have reduced by
69.49 per cent in Punjab, by
18.28 per cent in Haryana and by
47.61 per cent in the eight NCR
districts of Uttar Pradesh during
the one-month period since
September 15 compared to the
same period last year.
There are two main reasons
why despite so many far farms
this year, the air pollution levels
are considerably less till now.
One, the harvesting of paddy
crop has not picked up as yet as
much as it should have been
because of the delay in withdrawal
of monsoon and second,
the wind direction and velocity
was not favourable for transferring
air pollution to Delhi-NCR
till Thursday.
Data from the Agriculture
Ministry has shown that paddy
harvesting is complete only on
5.51 per cent of the 411.46 lakh
Ha across India. "Even in Punjab
the inclement weather has meant
that the farmers had delayed harvesting
the kharif crop. That will
further narrow down the window
and the farm fire instances are
set to rise," said an official from
Punjab.
According to data from
Punjab, the total paddy crop
area in both Punjab and
Haryana is estimated to be at 31
lakh Ha this year, of which as
much as 26 Ha is under nonbasmati
rice that causes the
stubble burning problem.
Farmers prefer particular variety/varieties
that are offered
substantial value under the government's
Minimum Support
Price (MSP).
This year, after the formation
of the permanent
Commission for Air Quality
Management for Delhi NCR
and Surrounding Areas
(CAQM), the Union Ministers
for Environment and
Agriculture had taken personal
interest and held multiple meetings,
some together, some individually,
with the officials and
political leadership from
Punjab and Haryana both.
Efforts were made by Punjab
government for bio-decomposition
of parali over 5 lakh Ha,
one such meeting on September
23 was informed.
The India Meteorological
Department (IMD) has indicated
that there would be rainfall
in north-west India on October
16 and 17, after which it is likely
that there would be stronger
winds towards Delhi that can
lead to increased air pollution.
System of Air Quality and
Weather Forecasting And
Research (SAFAR) at the
Indian Institute of Tropical
Meteorology (IITM), Pune is a
research-based initiative integrating
multiple factors and
issues forecast for air quality
for Delhi and three other cities.
SAFAR has also been tracking
farm fire incidents based on
satellite images from ISRO and
NASA.
Explained senior IITM scientist
and Director, SAFAR,
Gufrain Beig: "Till the time
monsoon does not withdraw,
there are no calm weather conditions.
Therefore, late withdrawal
of monsoon means local
dust and long-range dust transport
was more. Therefore, the
PM10 particles are more at this
time and PM2.5 particles that
are unhealthier are relatively
very less compared to last
year."
"When monsoon withdrawal
is complete, not just the wind
speed and direction, the temperature
too will then matter.
Then Delhi-NCR will have
more air pollution from parali
burning travelling towards it,"
he said. The CAQM has been
regularly talking with not just
Punjab but also with Haryana
and Uttar Pradesh for ensuring
strict implementation of the
action plan and the framework
to curb paddy residue burning
as per the protocol. CAQM has
also held series of meetings
with state government officials
including the district collectors/
district magistrates of Punjab,
Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh.
"From Monday onwards,
after this two-day likely rain in
northwest India, will we be able
to gauge the correct scenario
vis-a-vis stubble burning.
Whether or not our efforts at
restricting farm fires are successful
will be known then,"
said an officer from the
Environment Ministry, who has
kept tabs at the development,
but did not want to be quoted
by name.
PIA official was held at gunpoint
for hours by Taliban commanders
New Delhi. The Pakistan
International Airlines (PIA) suspended
its flights to Kabul after
what it called "heavy handed"
interference by Taliban authorities,
including arbitrary rule
changes and intimidation of
staff, The News reported.
The PIA said that ever since
the new Taliban government was
formed, its staff in Kabul had
faced last-minute changes in regulations
and flight permissions
along with "highly intimidating
behaviour" by Taliban commanders.
It said its country representative
had been held at gunpoint
for hours at one point and was
only freed after the Pakistan
Embassy in Kabul intervened,
the report said.
The suspension of flight operations
came as the Taliban government
ordered the airline, the
only international company
operating regularly out of Kabul,
to cut ticket prices to levels seen
before the fall of the Westernbacked
Afghan government in
August.
A PIA spokesman told Geo
News that operations have been
suspended for an "unspecified
period" and that the decision was
taken in the backdrop of "inappropriate
behaviour" demonstrated
by the Afghan authorities.
Undesirable conditions for
the operation of international
flights in Kabul and the Taliban
government's "last minute
changes in decisions" are also
part of the reason PIA made the
move, the spokesman said.
The PIA said it has decided
that no aircraft will go to Kabul
without insurance, the report
said.
Earlier, the Taliban had
warned the PIA and Afghan carrier
Kam Air that their Afghan
operations risked being blocked
unless they agreed to cut ticket
prices, which have reached levels
increasingly out of reach for
most Afghans.
With most international airlines
no longer flying to
Afghanistan, tickets for flights
to Islamabad were selling for as
much as $2,500 on PIA,
according to travel agents in
Kabul, compared to $120-$150
before. The Afghan transport
ministry had said in a statement
that prices on the route should
"be adjusted to correspond with
the conditions of a ticket before
the victory of the Islamic
Emirate" or the flights would
be stopped. It had urged passengers
and others to report any
violations. Flights between
Afghanistan and Pakistan have
been severely limited since
Kabul airport was reopened last
month in the wake of the chaotic
evacuation of more than
100,000 Westerners and vulnerable
Afghans following the
Taliban take over. With a
mounting economic crisis
adding to the worries about
Afghanistan's future under the
Taliban, there has been heavy
demand for flights out and the
main passport office in Kabul
has been besieged by people
trying to get travel documents
since it reopened earlier this
month. Demand for flights has
been further pushed by repeated
difficulties at land border crossings
into Pakistan.