Bathinda: Punjab has achieved nearly 70% reduction in stubble burning cases as compared to the previous year and recorded 32% fewer incidents than Madhya Pradesh in the current paddy harvesting season despite drawing criticism from multiple quarters like the Supreme Court, Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), and National Green Tribunal (NGT) following a rise in air pollution in NCR and adjoining areas.
However, concerns have been raised that farmers may be timing their stubble burning to avoid detection by satellite imagery. A Nasa scientist, Hiren Jethva, noted that the farm fires might be taking place after the satellite overpasses, particularly in the late afternoon, which could allow farmers to evade detection.
This suspicion arises from the fact that while stubble burning incidents have dropped, aerosol levels (which are used to gauge air pollution) have not decreased as expected. Aerosol levels remain high even though the number of fires reported has decreased, suggesting that the fires might be happening at times that are not captured by the satellites.
It was also claimed that South Korea-owned satellite GEO-KOMPSAT 2A had been detecting the images of local smoke at different time slots which were not visible through polar-orbiting satellite after a set time frame.
In a post on X, Jethva, senior aerosol remote sensing scientist with the Nasa Goddard Space Flight Center, Jethva wrote “Are farmers in NW India and Pakistan avoiding satellite overpass time for stubble burning? A close eyeballing of GEO-KOMPSAT 2A geostationary satellite images show localized puffs/clouds of smoke in late afternoon. Needs ground checking”. In response to the issue, the Supreme Court directed CAQM to collect data from geostationary satellite, so that data of farm fires throughout the day could be made available to the state to enable them to take immediate action.