Thatch burning is allegedly the cause of a blanket of smog over Hue City in Vietnam's Thua Thien - Hue Province from Sunday morning to afternoon.

The haze appeared around 10:00 am and lingered through 3:00 pm on the same day.

Smoke covered most of the downtown area and reached the height of the Vincom shopping mall, the tallest building in the city, which is the capital of the central province.

Its intensity did not decrease even at noon.

Many locals complained that the blanket of smog was accompanied by a burning smell, allegedly caused by thatch burning.

“The weather is hot and the pungent smell of straw burning is very unpleasant,” said Dinh Vinh, a local man in An Cuu Ward.

“It is not clear if this smoke poses any danger to health.”

The smog apparently can be traced back to the paddy fields where farmers were burning piles of straw left from their last crop near Thuy Thanh Commune in Huong Thuy Town, about three kilometers from Hue City’s center.

Hue chairman Hoang Hai Minh said he would request subordinate functional forces to verify and handle the issue.

Earlier, Thua Thien - Hue chairman Phan Ngoc Tho issued an order to strengthen measures to limit straw burning after rice harvest in the province.

Accordingly, grassroots authorities are requested to advise people to apply machines in the collection and transportation of straw and use bio-products to process post-harvest straw into organic fertilizer for farming, contributing to reducing environmental pollution.

At the same time, the functional forces must regularly inspect and handle cases of burning straw on fields and roads.

The order also stated that the chairs of the People’s Committees at all levels must be responsible for consequences left by people’s burning straw after harvest.

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