Paddy straw burning area rose 24% in 10 districts this year

Deepender Deswal

Tribune News Service

Hisar, December 6

The area under stubble burning has increased drastically this year in ten districts of the state.

The smog that occurred due to burning of paddy stubble by farmers had choked several places in north India at the onset of winter last month.

The data collected by the Haryana Space Applications Centre (HARSAC) indicated that stubble on over 2 lakh hectare area was burnt in ten districts of the state.

Shockingly, there has been an increase of approximately 24 per cent in the area where the farmers resorted to straw burning this kharif season as compared to the last year when straw on 1.63 lakh hectares was set afire.

The HARSAC, the nodal agency of the Department of Science and Technology, Haryana, located at the Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University (CCSHAU), analysed the information gathered via satellite images. The analysis revealed that paddy straw was burnt on 2,01,500 hectare in ten districts till November 19.

The HARSAC has selected ten districts, namely Ambala, Fatehabad, Jind, Kaithal, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Panipat, Sirsa, Sonepat and Yamunanagar, for the analytical project.

Karnal had the largest straw burning area of 45,800 hectare. However, the trend this year revealed that the burnt area increased drastically in Fatehabad, Kaithal, Jind and Sirsa districts.

Dr Ramesh S Hooda, Chief Scientist, HARSAC, said the considerable increase in the area where straw was burnt indicated that it was one of the main sources of smog that choked several places of Haryana, Punjab and Delhi around Diwali. “The increase in area indicates that the farmers, especially in the north-western districts like Fatehabad, Kaithal etc, are not paying heed to the call to stop straw burning.”

Significantly, the area under stubble burning had decreased gradually since 2013 until it rose this year. The area had fallen from 2.08 lakh hectare in 2013 to 1.68 lakh hectare in 2014 and 1.63 lakh hectare in 2015.