Stubble Burning In Rajasthan Up By 160%, In Punjab By 20%, Govts Not Doing Enough: Jitendra Singh

The Union Minister said the rise in farm fires implies that Rajasthan and Punjab are not doing enough to check stubble burning contributing to the deteriorating air quality in Delhi-NCR

New Delhi: Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Sunday said that incidents of stubble burning have witnessed a rise of 160 per cent in Rajasthan while in Punjab it has gone up 20 per cent from October 2021 compared to this year.

Targeting the two states, the minister said the figure implies that the governments in these states not doing enough to check stubble burning and are, on the contrary, increasingly contributing to the deteriorating air quality in Delhi-NCR.

The statement comes as people in the national capital continue to breathe poor-quality air as it still remains at an alarming level. On Monday morning, the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) of the city stood at 326.

Farm Fires in Rajasthan, Punjab Witness Rise

Farm fires in Punjab increased from 13,269 in October 2021 to 16,004 in October 2022, while their number rose from 124 to 318 in Rajasthan during this period, informed Singh according to the news agency PTI.

States such as Haryana and Uttar Pradesh have witnessed a progressive decline in the incidents of stubble burning, said the Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences.

The minister said farm fires in Uttar Pradesh slipped from 1,060 in October 2021 to 768 in October this year, while for Haryana, the number witnessed a decline from 2,914 to 1,995 during this period.

"Such inferences indicate that either the governments in Rajasthan and Punjab are not serious about air quality or they have not properly utilised the funds which were provided by the Narendra Modi government to purchase machines for stubble management," the minister remarked, as per PTI.

The minister also said the Centre had given Rs 3,138 crore to states, including around Rs 1,500 crore to Punjab alone, for stubble management since 2018-19.

The Air Quality Index (AQI) in the national capital Delhi on Monday morning sustained its level at a 'very poor' category since it witnessed a slide from the 'severe' category last week, as per the forecast system SAFAR.

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