There have been over 2200 incidents of stubble burning in Uttar Pradesh till November 12 with as many as 11 districts reporting an increase in such incidents over last year while a dozen other districts have reported a high number of cases, the state chief secretary has said in a letter to the district magistrates.
News18 has accessed the letter written by UP Chief Secretary RK Tiwari on November 15 which mentions 2,237 incidents of stubble fires in the state as per satellite imagery till November 12. Delhi-NCR and many cities of UP have been reporting poor Air Quality Levels (AQI) this month.
Tiwari’s letter says Shahjahanpur district has reported the maximum such 374 incidents, up over three times from 101 last year, while Mathura district near Delhi-NCR has seen 233 incidents, up from 152 last year. Other districts reporting an increase in stubble fire cases are Pilibhit (195 cases against 11 last year), Rampur (168) and Khiri (131). Gautambudh Nagar District reported 17 cases so far, the letter says. Another dozen districts have been listed in the letter citing a high number of cases, like Fatehpur (63) and Saharanpur (52).
“Pollution control is a top priority of the state government and it is important to stop such incidents,” the Chief Secretary has said. The letter asks for spreading awareness among farmers, providing equipment to farmers to handle stubble rather than burn it, bringing speed to the process of taking stubble to cow-shelters for use of the same as cattle feed and directions to half-a-dozen departments to stop incidents of stubble fire.
“The incidents are under control in districts in the NCR region (near Delhi). The harvesting of the sugarcane crop has started there now. It is important to be more vigilant in these districts to avoid any incidents of burning of left-over sugarcane crop by farmers,” the letter says. The directives do not mention any legal action to be taken against farmers. UP goes to polls in a few months.
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