"Paddy Stubble Burns Across Punjab’s Fields as Authorities Race to Contain Rising Farm Fires"
Chandigarh: Amid reports of rising stubble-burning incidents across Punjab and Haryana—especially during the evening hours—the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) is holding an urgent stakeholder meeting at Kisan Bhawan, Chandigarh, today. Officials from both states and their respective Pollution Control Boards are attending the crucial session.
The meeting comes as a high-stakes cat-and-mouse game continues between monitoring agencies and farmers in Punjab. To evade satellite detection, several farmers have reportedly begun setting fields ablaze late in the evening, outside the surveillance window of satellites that typically capture farm fire images in the afternoon and midnight.
Monitoring is carried out by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute’s Consortium for Research on Agroecosystem Monitoring and Modelling from Space, which uses VIIRS and MODIS Aqua satellite data from September 15 onwards. However, this year, authorities have upgraded their strategy—rather than just counting fire points, they are now mapping the total burnt area and sharing this data directly with pollution control bodies for prompt action.
Despite these measures, stubble-burning continues unabated. After the season’s peak of 283 incidents recorded on Wednesday, another 202 fresh cases were reported on Thursday, taking the total tally to 1,418 since September 15.
According to the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB), 85% of these cases—about 1,210 farm fires—have been reported in just the past 12 days, following Diwali. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s home district Sangrur leads with 48 new cases, followed by Tarn Taran (34), Ferozepur (32), Bathinda (16), and Amritsar and Muktsar (13 each). Cumulatively, Tarn Taran (330), Sangrur (218), Amritsar (186), and Ferozepur (155) account for the majority of this season’s fires.
In a crackdown on violators, PPCB has registered 135 FIRs and 156 red entries since October 25. Overall, 376 FIRs and 432 red entries have been filed this season, with environmental compensation worth over ₹24 lakh imposed, and ₹15 lakh already recovered.
Pollution control agencies monitor stubble-burning from September 15 to November 30, the peak harvest period in Punjab and Haryana. Despite repeated government appeals and awareness drives, farmers continue to defy the ban, citing high residue management costs and limited access to machinery.
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