Low wind speed adding to Punjab's farm fire crisis

Mohit Khanna

Patiala, October 31

The spike in stubble burning incidents coupled with low wind speed and dipping temperature has led to the creation of photochemical smog in the region, thus aggravating the pollution problem, the department of physics at Punjabi University here has found.

“The smog doesn’t allow the sun’s heat to reach the earth’s surface, which leads to relatively warmer and dusty evenings. The particulate matter remains suspended in the atmosphere, causing breathing discomfort,” said Assistant Professor (Physics) Karamjit Singh Dhaliwal, also the principal investigator of ‘ISRO-GBP ARFI Research Project’.

Dhaliwal said currently the average wind speed across Punjab was less than 3 km per hour. Photochemical smog is produced when ultraviolet rays from the sun react with the atmospheric nitrogen oxide. Earlier, it was seen only in densely populated cities with high-emission levels, but with stubble burning on the rise, it is being witnessed even in the villages in Malwa region.

Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) Chairman Adarsh Pal Vig, meanwhile, said stubble burning had affected Punjab’s air quality more than the national capital. Vig maintained that Punjab had witnessed over 50% drop in farm fires. He said till October 30 this year, the state had recorded 6,284 cases compared to 13,873 during the corresponding period in 2022.