Farmers Movement Archive

Farm fires: EPCA rap for Delhi’s neighbours

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court-appointed EPCA, in a review meeting of the ongoing stubble-burning situation in the states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, directed the state governments on Wednesday to take stock of the situation on the ground. The governments were asked to take immediate measures to reduce farm fires. Rapping the states over the spike in crop-fire cases over the last two weeks, EPCA said despite claims made about preparation on the ground, over 500 fire counts were recorded in the three states on Tuesday alone. EPCA Chairman Bhure Lal said, “The air quality is getting worse each day and you know how harmful it is for people, especially during such a time,” he said, asking Punjab government officials why fires were on the rise in the state. A Punjab government official said the recent agitation against the farm bill was making it difficult to provide assistance to certain farmers, however, action had been intensified on the ground. “We are working hard to resolve the issue and work with the farmers who are in a state of agitation. Itn some cases, hey are not willing to accept help either,” an official informed EPCA via video conferencing. On the other hand, Haryana government officials said there had been a drop this year as compared with the same time last year. “At this time last year, we had over 700 fire counts and the figure is below 600 at the moment,” said an official. EPCA has asked all three states to rely on one uniform source for farm fires, which could provide them a benchmark to work on, asking them to use IMD’s SAFAR satellite data for keeping track. While Haryana identified 53 fire counts in the state on Tuesday, EPCA said SAFAR’s fire count showed 150 instances.

The Times of India

2020-10-15

Delhi