Haryana air quality dips as stubble fires shoot up

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, October 12

With cases of stubble burning reaching 1,042 in Haryana till Sunday, the air quality in most districts of the state has started deteriorating. The air quality index in the rice producing districts like Kurukshetra and Karnal has turned poor, revealed the data of the Central Pollution Control Board.

Out of the 1,042 farm fires detected so far, Kurukshetra with 213 cases is leading the tally, followed by Karnal (204), Ambala (139), Kaithal (130), Fatehabad (89), Yamunanagar (80), Jind (69), Hisar (34), Sonepat (21), Palwal (14), Sirsa (14), Panipat (13), Panchkula (10), Jhajjar (5), Rohtak (3), Rewari (2) , Bhiwani (1) and Gurugram (1).

Also read: Officials stop farmers from burning stubble, assaulted in Karnal

“The burning of crop residue is the main reason behind this sudden fall in air quality apart from the traffic, weather and industrial pollution,” said SK Arora, Haryana State Pollution Control Board area engineer.

Doctors fear the poor air quality could aggravate respiratory problems.