Punjab reports 512 more farm fires

Punjab Wednesday reported 512 farm fires, taking the total number of such cases recorded since September 15 to 36,118. Of the fresh farm fires, Moga saw maximum such cases at 110, followed by 95 in Fazilka, 41 in Muktsar, 40 in Bathinda and 39 in Faridkot, according to the Punjab Remote Sensing Centre data.

On the same day in 2021 and 2022, the state had seen 66 and 78 farm fires, respectively.

Out of total 36,118 farm fires recorded from September 15 till November 22, Sangrur is leading with maximum stubble burning cases of 5,596, followed by 3,356 in Ferozepur, 2,940 in Bathinda, 2,706 in Moga and 2,300 in Barnala.


The state had reported 70,945 and 49,604 stubble burning incidents in the corresponding period of 2021 and 2022, respectively.

Paddy straw burning in Punjab and Haryana is considered one of the reasons behind the alarming spike in air pollution levels in the national capital in October and November.

Meanwhile, air quality indices remained in 'very poor' and 'poor' categories in many parts of Haryana and Punjab.

Haryana's Fatehabad reported an air quality index (AQI) of 368, followed by 358 in Faridabad, 342 in Gurugram, 337 in Jind, 330 in Rohtak and 291 in Bhiwani.

In Punjab, Bathinda reported AQI at 327, followed by 318 in Mandi Gobindgarh, 278 in Ludhiana, 260 in Khanna, 242 in Patiala, 231 in Jalandhar and 230 in Amritsar.

The Union Territory of Chandigarh, the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana, saw an AQI of 236.

An AQI between zero and 50 is considered 'good', 51 and 100 'satisfactory', 101 and 200 'moderate', 201 and 300 'poor', 301 and 400 'very poor', and 401 and 500 'severe'.