This year, so far, Punjab has recorded 241 cases of stubble burning from September 15 to October 18. This reports a hike of 125 from 116 on October 11, according to Punjab Pollution Control Board data.
Tarn Taran district accounts for the largest share at 88, as farmers continue to ignore government appeals to stop burning crop residue. This number is followed by Amritsar at 80, Ferozepur at 16, and Patiala at 11. The data showed that a total of 132 FIRs — 50 in Tarn Taran and 37 in Amritsar — have been registered under Section 223 (disobedience of order duly promulgated by a public servant) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana is blamed for a rise in air pollution in Delhi. As the window for sowing the Rabi crop — wheat — is very short after paddy harvest, some farmers set their fields on fire to quickly clear the crop residue.
The exercise of recording farm fire incidents will continue till November 30.
Fine imposed -
Among the recorded cases, Rs 5.60 lakh has been imposed as environmental compensation in 113 cases so far. Of this total amount, Rs 4.15 lakh has been recovered.
The state authorities also marked 87 red entries, the maximum in Tarn Taran and Amritsar, in the land records of farmers who burnt crop residue. A red entry bars farmers from getting loans against their farmland or selling it.
The farm fire incidents are taking place despite the state government launching an extensive campaign to highlight the ill effects of stubble burning and aware the general public about the benefits of crop residue management machinery.
There was a 70 per cent drop in the stubble burning cases reported in Punjab, with the state recording a total of 10,909 farm fires in 2024 as compared to 36,663 in 2023. It reported 49,922 farm fires in 2022, 71,304 in 2021, 76,590 in 2020, 55,210 in 2019 and 50,590 in 2018, with Sangrur, Mansa, Bathinda and Amritsar accounting for a large number of these.
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