Stubble fires continue to rage in Punjab despite SC directive

Punjab’s farmers defied the Supreme Court’s directions on Wednesday, with 2,003 cases of stubble burning being recorded on the day, even as Delhi’s air quality index (AQI) plunged back into the severe category with a reading of 426 at 4pm.

- Navrajdeep Singh

In response to a query from HT on why they were unable to stop the fires, and whether this was not contempt of court, the state’s chief secretary Anurag Verma and director general of police Gaurav Yadav did not respond to requests seeking comments.

The chief minister’s office did not respond to requests seeking comment.

Punjab agriculture director Jaswant Singh said, “The number of farm fires is expected to come down from Thursday as the civil administration and police chiefs of all the districts in Punjab have been asked to implement the action plan to stop the farm fires.”

The highest number of fires were in the chief minister’s constituency Sangrur, which saw 466 on Wednesday.

Every year, farm fires from Punjab push Delhi’s air into severe territory – an AQI reading in excess of 400. Schools in Delhi have been forced to close between November 8 and 18 by the government on account of the pollution. Hearing the petition on air pollution, a bench led by justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia, on Tuesday, directed Punjab’s chief secretary and DGP to oversee the implementation of court orders and ensure that the stubble burning was stopped immediately. The next hearing is on Friday.