NEW DELHI: The data from satellites show fewer harvest stubble fires than in the same period in the past two years. However, that news has to be tempered with the experts’ view that the recent rains had delayed the rice harvesting and left the farmers with a shorter window to sow the next crop. This is likely to result in intense stubble burning and, therefore, more pollution in November. Track the pollution level in your cityAccording to Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), which follows the standard protocol 2021 notified by the Commission for Air Quality Management, 1,069 paddy residue burning events were recorded in Punjab between September 15 and October 14 this year against 1,286 in the same period in 2021 and 4,216 in 2020. Between September 15 and October 14, Haryana recorded 132 stubble burning events in 2022, 487 in 2021 and 596 in 2020. Uttar Pradesh reported 91 farm fires in 2022, 311 in 2021 and 305 in 2020 in the same period. The System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), the Union earth sciences ministry’s forecasting body, which maintains data on the effective fire counts of four states with the potential to impact Delhi’s air, confirmed the fire counts were on a lower side this year. SAFAR said 1,495 fire counts were detected between October 1 and 13 this year compared with 2,425 in 2021 and 4,324 in 2020 in the corresponding period. Anumita Roy Chowdhury, executive director (research and advocacy), Centre for Science and Environment, said, “We saw last year the extended rain in October leading to concentrated stubble burning in early November. The intense rains this month could lead to a similar situation. The impact of concentrated burning on Delhi’s air can be substantial if farmers aren’t dissuaded from setting their field afire.” Gufran Beig, founder project director, SAFAR, said, “One reason for the lower fire count could be the satellites’ inability to detect fires in cloudy conditions if mitigation measures haven’t worked. However, if the season’s harvesting load remains the same as last year’s and the sowing time window has tightened, the quantum of burning will go up every day. In that case, November may see more foul air days. Only if we avoid large-scale burning on October 23-26 can we avoid ‘severe’ air days.” Professor Vinay Sehgal, principal scientist in charge of Consortium for Research on Agroecosystem Monitoring and Modelling from Space Laboratory at IARI, added, “The rain has caused a delay in harvesting. That rain could be the reason behind the low fire counts. But the state government should be on the vigil to check farm fires.” He added that the peak burning takes place from October 26 to November 5. The overall AQI of Delhi remained in the ‘moderate’ category on Friday with the index at 154. According to the Early Warning System for Delhi, the air quality is likely to remain in the ‘moderate’ to ‘poor’ category on Saturday and ‘poor’ category on Sunday.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/bad-air-news-it-may-not-be-a-sweet-november/articleshow/94868220.cms