GURUGRAM: Farm fires feeding the toxic smog, that dreaded annual event which returns to Delhi-NCR every October-November, have seen the highest numbers this year since 2016, and a sharp increase from the three-year period from 2017-19 when efforts to check them at source appear to have yielded positive results.
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A five-year comparison of stubble burning incidents recorded over September, October and November within a 400km radius of Delhi-NCR shows the increase in fires this year is consistent over the three months. The trend is an alarming one because it indicates that any gains made between 2017 and 2019 may have been lost and makes the job tougher for the newly formed Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) that is expected to tackle this problem on a war footing.
According to data compiled between 2016 and 2020 by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and shared with TOI, September this year was the worst since 2016 in terms of stubble burning cases recorded. While 759 farm fires were recorded in September 2016, the next two years saw the numbers dip — to 556 in 2017 and 307 in 2018. In 2019, there was a marginal rise to 630 incidents. But this September, the figure more than doubled to 1,323.
The numbers for October and November show a similar worrying trend. For instance, while farm fires in October declined considerably over a three-year period — from a five-year high of 46,506 in 2016 to 39,371 in 2017, 24,618 in 2018 and 24,025 in 2019, the number shot up this year to 31,064.
Data for November 2020 is available only for the first five days, but the trend indicates the current month may turn out to be the worst November since 2016, if not surpass it. A comparison with the last five years shows that between November 1 and 5, in 2016, a total of 22,178 farm fires were recorded, which came down to 14,845 in 2017 during the same period. There was a decline in 2018 as well, when 13,555 farm fires were observed. In 2019, there was a slight rise, with 14,236 incidents. The spike is pronounced this year, with 18,293 farm fires in this period.
While it is important to note that TERI collected the details from satellite data, which can be compromised on cloudy days, an official pointed out that this factor would not have come into play in this region for the period in which the data was taken. “Cloudy days can hamper data collection, but this region does not have dense cloudy days during the period from September to November-end. Only during monsoon does the data collection process become difficult,” said Dr Sumit Sharma, director, earth science and climate change, TERI.
Stubble burning has caused severe air pollution in Delhi and its neighbouring urban centres like Gurugram, Faridabad, Noida and Ghaziabad. In November so far, the air quality index (AQI) in the region has on most days remained in the ‘severe’ category. According to Dr Sharma, in 2019, stubble burning contributed 24% to Delhi’s air pollution. A TERI report says that in 2016, the burning of crop residue was responsible for more than 40% of PM2.5 pollutants in NCR.
“Farm fires started 10 days earlier this year, even before September. We have observed more stubble burning incidents in September compared to last year. Active fire locations, as observed by NASA, are more than in 2019, resulting in a steep rise in AQI,” said S Narayanan, member secretary, Haryana State Pollution Control Board.
Jagminder Nain, joint director in the Haryana agriculture department, attributed the rising incidents of crop burning to early harvesting. “A majority of farmers are opting for short-duration varieties of seeds that produce an early harvest, hence farm fires started early,” he said.
Dr A S Marwaha, chairman of the Pollution Control Board in Punjab, which has reported a bulk of the fires, struck a defiant note, saying rather than pointing fingers at Punjab, authorities in Delhi should check for internal sources of pollution. He claimed stubble burning in the state was not a major contributing factor in NCR’s deteriorating air quality, and also pointed to the climatic conditions from October to March every year, adding that had stubble fires been the main reason for poor air quality, then the ambient AQI of Punjab too would have shown a similar trend, as it receives pollutants from Pakistan. However, he said, that has not been the case.
Several experts TOI spoke to expressed concern. Shivani Sharma, research associate at TERI, said, “Though there was a slight decline in 2018 and 2019, there has been an increase this time. Farm fires are a major contributor to pollution and a matter of concern for Delhi and other regions in these days.”
Anumita Roy Chowdhury, executive director, Centre for Science and Environment, said, “Although governments are giving subsidies so that farmers don’t burn the stubble, more steps are needed. Haryana has 18,000 machines and Punjab has 50,000 to help farmers in tilling land in a way that uses the stubble instead of burning it. But technology must be made accessible to all.”