Meghalaya, January 13 (PTI): The West Khasi Hills district administration has imposed prohibitory orders in the district to prevent farmers from burning stubble and grasslands, officials said on Friday. Acting on reports about unscrupulous burning of stubble and grasslands in the district during the dry winter season, deputy commissioner Arunkumar Kembhavi said, the prohibitory order was issued in order to protect the environment and to protect the health and hygiene of humans and animals alike. He said, "Reports have been received that farmers are burning the agricultural fields and grazing land in winter times... causing severe pollution of the air and smog as was witnessed in the national capital." Unscrupulously done, he said, it also destroys the normal forests besides affecting soil organic matter, macro and micro-nutrients, physical properties of soil like texture, colour, pH, bulk density as well as soil biota rendering the soil useless in the long run. Farmers in Meghalaya burn grasslands during dry seasons to allow new grass to sprout as soon as it rains in the spring for the cattle to graze.