Punjab reports 38 farm fire cases in 2 days

Punjab witnessed 38 farm fires in the past two days with experts warning of an uptick in the coming week as the harvesting picks up pace across the state.
The state recorded 20 cases of stubble burning on Tuesday taking the total count for the season to 234.
Of 20 cases today, Kapurthala reported five cases while Patiala reported four. Amritsar has recorded the highest cases of stubble burning (103), so far. Amritsar is followed by another border district Tarn Taran with 30 cases.
A Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) official warned that the cases might see a massive uptick in the coming weeks as the harvesting picks up pace across the state.
Following arthiyas calling off their strike, the procurement has started in mandis. Further, the farmers in other regions of the state will also start harvesting their crops. Till now the harvesting was mostly restricted to the Majha area. Paddy arrivals in the mandis saw a significant jump on Tuesday,” a PPCB official said, pleading anonymity.
Against the arrival of 19,951 tonnes on Monday, 52,473 tonnes reached state mandis on Tuesday.
In total 1.42 lakh metric tonnes of paddy has arrived in grain markets of Punjab to date.
The mandi officials said that paddy arrival would now pick up pace as farmers after arhtiyas called off the strike.