Punjab & Haryana records significant decrease in stubble burning in Paddy harvesting season 2023

Punjab recorded an overall 27% decrease in the total fire counts owing to paddy stubble burning during 2023 as compared to 2022.

Recording of paddy straw burning events, through a standard protocol developed by ISRO, is carried out on year-to-year basis from 15th September to 30th November. Paddy harvesting season 2023 now comes to an end and with it, the efforts made towards management of paddy straw for the current season have also been concluded. Over the last 3 years, incidences of paddy stubble burning have witnessed a significant decrease, including in 2023, both for Punjab and Haryana.

Formulation of district specific action plans, intensified monitoring at the level of Chief Secretary, Dy. Commissioners and officers concerned in the State Govts., improving availability and utilisation of machines for in-situ / ex-situ management and a quantum rise in utilisation of paddy straw for various industrial / commercial applications has led to substantial decrease in paddy straw burning incidents in Punjab and Haryana.

Against cumulative 83,002 fire counts on account of paddy stubble burning in Punjab during 2020, the fire counts in the corresponding period were 71,304 during 2021, 49,922 during 2022 and 36,663 during 2023.

For the State of Haryana 4,202 fire counts were reported in 2020. Against this figure, paddy stubble burning cases were 6,987 in 2021, 3,661 in 2022 and 2,303 in 2023 respectively.

Punjab thus recorded an overall 27 per cent decrease in the total fire counts owing to paddy stubble burning during 2023 as compared to 2022. The percentage of  reduction in the farm fires in 2023 with respect to the figures in 2021 and 2020 has been 49 per cent and 56 per cent respectively.

Likewise, substantial reduction has also been witnessed in the total number of paddy farm fires in Haryana i.e., 37 per cent reduction in 2023 vis-à-vis 2022. The reduction in farm fire incidences in 2023 with respect to 2021 has been much higher at 67 per cent while a reduction of 45 per cent has been witnessed as compared to the incidences in 2020.

In terms of district wise performance of Punjab in this context, 4 districts namely Muktsar, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur and Rupnagar recorded more than 50 per cent reduction in the paddy farm fires during 2023 as compared to 2022, while 5 districts viz. Bathinda, Fazilka, Ludhiana, Tarn Taran and Patiala recorded an improvement of 27 per cent – 50 per cent in their respective fire counts over figures in 2022. 11 districts namely Barnala, Faridkot, Fatehgarh Sahib, Ferozepur, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Malerkotla, Mansa, Moga, Sangrur and SBS Nagar also witnessed a reduction ranging up to 27 per cent in the farm fires during 2023. Three districts in Punjab namely Amritsar, SAS Nagar and Pathankot emerged as a concern with increase in the number of their respective fire counts during 2023 vis-à-vis 2022.

For the state of Haryana, the 3 districts which achieved more than 50 per cent reduction in the fire counts during 2023 as compared to 2022 are Kaithal, Karnal and Panipat while 3 districts viz. Kurukshetra, Sirsa and Yamuna Nagar recorded a reduction between 37 per cent – 50 per cent over the corresponding figures in 2022. There were 5 other districts viz. Ambala, Fatehabad, Jind, Hisar and Sonipat where the improvement ranged up to 37 per cent over the 2022 figures.  5 districts in Haryana viz. Rohtak, Bhiwani, Faridabad, Jhajjar and Palwal however recorded higher paddy farm fire counts in 2023 over their corresponding figures for 2022.

Punjab recorded an overall 27% decrease in