Punjab sees season's biggest single-day jump of 147 farm fires, tally climbs to 890

Chandigarh: Punjab on Monday witnessed the season's highest single-day spike of 147 farm fires, pushing the total number of incidents since September 15 to 890, official data showed.

Tarn Taran and Amritsar districts accounted for the bulk of the farm fires, Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) data showed, as many farmers continued to disregard the state government's appeal to stop crop residue burning.

The number of farm fires in the state has jumped by 537 from October 20, when the figure stood at 353.

According to the data, the highest number of farm fires was reported from Tarn Taran at 249, followed by Amritsar at 169, Ferozepur at 87, Sangrur at 79, Patiala at 46, Gurdaspur at 41, Bathinda at 38 and Kapurthala at 35.

Pathankot and Rupnagar districts have not reported any stubble burning incidents so far. SBS Nagar and Hoshiarpur have reported three cases, Malerkotla four and Ludhiana nine.

Stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana is often blamed for the rise in air pollution in Delhi after the paddy crop is harvested in October and November.

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.

According to the PPCB, the total area under paddy cultivation in Punjab this year is 31.72 lakh hectares. Till October 26, 59.82 per cent of this area had been harvested.

So far, fines amounting to Rs 19.80 lakh have been imposed as environmental compensation in 386 cases. Of the total, Rs 13.40 lakh has been collected, the data showed.

A total of 302 FIRs have been registered in connection with farm fire incidents under Section 223 (disobedience of order promulgated by public servant) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, it said.

State authorities have also marked 337 red entries in the land records of farmers who burnt crop residues.

A red entry bars farmers from getting loans against their farmland or selling it.

Punjab recorded a total of 10,909 farm fires in 2024 as compared to 36,663 in 2023, a 70 per cent drop.

The state recorded 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.