This story is from October 31, 2020

In Haryana, fire count highest in CM Manohar Lal Khattar’s constituency

The state has witnessed a total of 3,773 incidents of stubble burning in October so far this year, a marginal dip when compared to last October’s 3,916 cases. This is despite tall claims made by the government year after year to stop farm fires. The most instances of stubble burning have been reported from Karnal district (731), which is chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s constituency.
In Haryana, fire count highest in CM Manohar Lal Khattar’s constituency
Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar
GURUGRAM: The state has witnessed a total of 3,773 incidents of stubble burning in October so far this year, a marginal dip when compared to last October’s 3,916 cases. This is despite tall claims made by the government year after year to stop farm fires. The most instances of stubble burning have been reported from Karnal district (731), which is chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s constituency.
According to the Centre’s System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), PM2.5 levels in Delhi-NCR increased by up to 44% due to stubble burning in Haryana in October 2019.
The Union ministry of environment, forests and climate change too accepted this in the Parliament in March this year.
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The quality of air in Haryana is already in the ‘poor’ category this month and is expected to fall in the ‘severe’ category with the onset of winter and increasing instances of crop residue burning in the state. According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the Air Quality Index (AQI) is in the ‘very poor’ category in 15 districts out of 22 at present. While Hisar’s air quality is in the ‘severe’ category, the AQI of the remaining six districts is in the ‘poor’ category.
“Stubble burning will increase in the coming days. Late basmati rice harvesting is yet to be completed, after which cases of stubble burning will increase in the first two weeks of November,” an officer from the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) said.
According to the state agriculture department, even though the Haryana government has been discouraging farmers from cultivating paddy, it has been sown on around 12.83 lakh hectares across Haryana. The maximum paddy cultivation has been reported in Karnal this year — around 1.7 lakh hectares.

HSPCB had started monitoring stubble burning in the last week of September this year, when paddy harvesting began in Haryana. The latest data shared by HSPCB shows that 3,773 incidents of stubble burning have been recorded in the state so far this month. Most of the farm fires have been reported from Karnal (731), Kurukshetra (675), Kaithal (653), Ambala (479) and Fatehabad (304) districts. On an average, more than 100 cases have been reported daily across Haryana.
Over 240 cases were reported on October 18, the highest so far on a single day this month.
The Supreme Court had last year directed the Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh governments to give an incentive of Rs 100 per quintal for non-basmati produce to farmers who do not burn stubble. The apex court had also ordered the three states to bear the operational cost of hiring machines for handling the agricultural residue on behalf of marginal and small farmers.
“All district officials have been directed to make sure that machines are made available to farmers, especially the small and marginalised farmers, at very nominal rates. We are also working towards providing monetary incentives to them,” said Amit Arya, media advisor to the CM. Arya, however, refused to comment on the fact that the maximum cases have been reported from Khattar’s constituency.
“We have reached out to farmers to make buying and hiring machines easy and affordable for them, but for farmers with small land holdings, the machines are basically useless. For them, burning is a cheaper option than availing the government subsidy,” said a Karnal district administration official.
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