Punjab on Monday, reported 1,251 fresh farm fire incidents, the highest single-day count this season, according to data from the Punjab Remote Sensing Centre. This pushed the total stubble-burning cases in the state to 9,655. The previous highest single-day count this season was 730 incidents, reported on November 8.
Stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana is often blamed for the rise in air pollution in Delhi-NCR after the harvesting of paddy in October-November.
As the window for the Rabi crop -- wheat -- is very short after the paddy harvest, some farmers set their fields on fire to quickly clear the crop residue for sowing a new crop.
