BATHINDA: With close to 3,000 stubble burning events in the 24 hours up to Wednesday evening, the total count of farm fires in Punjab so far this year reached 69,323.
With the state just 52 days into crop residue burning season, the figure is expected to rise further and could be close to the highest-ever record of 82,000 cases, recorded in 2016.
Bathinda, with 450 burning events, had the higehst number of cases. It was followed by 338 in Fazilka, 331 in Moga, 311 in Sangrur, 295 in Muktsar, 262 in Mansa, 234 in Barnala, 220 in Faridkot, 182 in Ferozepur, 143 in Ludhiana, and 100 in Patiala. Pathankot and SAS Nagar were the only districts with no burning cases, whereas SBS Nagar recorded only one case. Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur and Amritsar recorded only two burning events each, Rupnagar recorded three, Kapurthala seven, Tarn Taran recorded 40, Jalandhar 36, and Fatehgarh Sahib recorded 12 cases.
Till November 10 in 2019, the state had recorded just 50,423. The figure was 42,025 and 42,126 in the corresponding period in 2017 and 2018, respectively. In 2016, this figure was 76,045.