Farm fires spike again with 351 fresh incidents

Farm fires in Punjab surged again with 351 incidents on Thursday, the second-highest single-day count of the season that took the total number of cases to 3,284.

The spike came on the day Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) Chairman Rajesh Verma was in Punjab, reviewing stubble management efforts.

After touching the season’s high of 442 cases on October 31, the daily count had dropped sharply to 94 on Wednesday, before climbing again. As many as 2,351 cases — nearly 68 per cent of the total — have been reported in the past nine days.

On Thursday, Moga reported 46 incidents, followed by Muktsar (40), Sangrur (31), Ludhiana (29), and Ferozepur and Tarn Taran (28 each).