Wheat stubble burning continues in many districts in Haryana

Hisar, May 3

The practice of wheat stubble burning continues in several districts even as the state and Centre have been taking measures to contain farm fires, which are a major cause of air pollution and adversely affect soil fertility.

The death of a youth in Girawar village of Rohtak district after he was trapped in a farm fire on Saturday, and several incidents of fire spiralling to other fields, resulting in burning of standing wheat in Hisar, Sirsa, Jind and Fatehabad districts are a proof that farm fires could lead to tragic mishaps.

The data available on the Centre’s web application ‘Bhuvan’ shows that 841 incidents of active fire locations (AFL) in the fields in Haryana were reported on Saturday. On Sunday, Sirsa reported 32 AFLs, while Fatehabad recorded 25.

The Haryana Space Applications Centre (Harsac), Hisar, has been tracking active fire locations across the state.

Harsac director Dr VS Arya, however, refused to disclose the data about AFLs, stating that they submitted the data only to the state government.