New Delhi, Nov 14 (TIWN) While an air pollution emergency is playing out in Delhi NCR, stubble burning in Punjab is likely to abate by the end of the month as wheat sowing has already covered 60 per cent of the area.

Smoke from burning of crop residue — the stubble left in farms after mechanised harvesting — was starting to envelop the skies. Governments in Punjab, Haryana and the centre have adopted several measures to mitigate the stubble burning after two preceding winters of terrible air pollution. But conversations with farmers on the ground reveal neither the fear of penalties nor the lure of subsidies are having an impact. They need to clear their farms quickly and cost effectively to sow the more important wheat crop. And burning the paddy stubble is what they plan to do. In some farms this reporter witnessed stubble being burned even as cops were standing around. Taking on the powerful lobby of farmers is not something most politicians in Punjab or Haryana will have appetite for, much less a beat constable.