Smog thickens even as farm fires decline in Punjab

Punjab on Sunday reported 133 stubble-burning incidents, down sharply from 440 recorded the day before, taking the seasonal total to 4,195. Nearly 60 per cent of these (2,253) occurred in the past 10 days.

With winter arriving, the combination of stubble fires, low wind speed and falling temperature has led to the formation of thick photochemical smog across the state, worsening air quality. Smog can now be seen in both rural and urban areas during evening hours.

“Smog prevents sunlight from reaching the ground, resulting in warmer, dustier evenings. The particulate matter remains suspended in the air, causing breathing discomfort,” said Dr Karamjit Singh Dhaliwal, Assistant Professor (Physics) and Principal Investigator of the ISRO-GBP ARFI Research Project.

Dr Pavneet Kaur Kingra, Head of the Department of Climate Change and Agricultural Meteorology at PAU, noted that average wind speed across the state had dropped below 3 kmph.

“Photochemical smog forms when ultraviolet rays react with nitrogen oxides in the atmosphere. Earlier, it was confined to cities, but now even rural parts of Malwa are also witnessing it,” she said.

Punjab’s geography and winter climate trap pollutants close to the ground, said Dr Ravindra Khaiwal, Professor of Environmental Health at PGIMER, Chandigarh.

With no rainfall to disperse pollutants, air quality indices worsened in key cities, including Ludhiana (168), Amritsar (151), Jalandhar (138), and Patiala (129).