A sudden surge in stubble-burning incidents in Punjab sees 321 new fires in a single day as the seasonal tally climbs to 2,839, even as overall numbers remain well below previous years.

New Delhi

Surge in Fires Sparks Concern

In the latest data release from the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) and other agencies, Punjab recorded 321 new stubble-burning incidents on Tuesday, taking the season’s cumulative figure to 2,839. While this total is markedly lower than the same timeframe in previous years — 4,394 cases at this stage in 2024 and a staggering 14,173 in 2023 — the recent spike has reignited alarms among environmental and agricultural officials.

Authorities caution that while the year-on-year performance indicates improvement, the sharp escalation in a short span — 67 per cent of this season’s fires occurred in just the past seven days.

District-Wise Breakdown

Certain districts remain hotspots. According to the latest figures:

• Sangrur leads with 510 cumulative incidents, including 43 fresh fires.
• Tarn Taran follows closely with 506 total and 35 new fires.
• Other significant numbers include Ferozepur (296), Amritsar (249), Bathinda (197), and Patiala (167).
• Interestingly, Ropar remains the only district with zero reported fires to date.

Why the Spike?

Several factors are contributing to the resurgence of fires:

• Compressed wheat-sowing window: Farmers are under pressure to clear paddy fields rapidly to sow wheat before the optimal deadline of November 15. The delayed harvest of paddy due to October rains has squeezed available time, making burning an expedient despite bans.
• Harvesting completion threshold: As of early November, over 85 per cent of the 31.72 lakh hectares under paddy had been harvested.
• Enforcement fatigue and weather conditions: While enforcement efforts have increased, the geographical spread of farms, tight timelines, and favorable conditions for burning (dry residue, wind) complicate mitigation.

Air Quality Implications

The resurgence of stubble burning comes amid worrying trends in air quality particularly across Punjab and the surrounding national capital region (NCR). On November 4, several cities posted elevated PM2.5 levels: Bathinda averaged 182 µg/m³ (peaking at 397), Ludhiana 200 µg/m³ (peak 244), Jalandhar 155 µg/m³ (peak 256), and Patiala 187 µg/m³ (peak 255).

Given prevailing weather conditions such as dropping temperatures and reduced vertical air mixing, pollutants from farm fires tend to linger near ground level, exacerbating health risks.

Enforcement & Policy Response

The state government has intensified crack-down efforts this season:

• Over 765 FIRs under Section 223 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) have been filed for illegal stubble burning.
• More than ₹52.75 lakh in environmental compensation has been imposed so far.
• Land-record “red entries” are being made in the names of offending farmers, affecting loan-rights and land sales.
• A dedicated monitoring cell and multiple “flying squads” have been deployed across the state to detect and act upon incidents in real time.

Year-on-Year Comparison: Good, But Fragile

On a comparative basis:

• The count of 2,839 is 35 per cent lower than the same period in 2024 (4,394).
• Compared to 2023’s 14,173 incidents, the drop is even steeper (~80 per cent).
  Despite these improvements, the recent acceleration suggests the gap could narrow quickly if burning behaviour remains unchecked. As an agri-official was quoted: “The next ten days are crucial. The number of fires could rise as more areas complete harvesting.”

Risks Ahead

While totals are lower, the circumstances present several red flags:

• Rapid escalation: The majority of cases erupted within a few days, suggesting systemic pressures (weather, harvest delays, crop transitions) may overwhelm the regulatory regime.
• Health hazard accumulation: As last-season figures show, even modest upticks in burning lead to sharp air-quality deterioration.
• Policy fatigue: Enforcement has improved, but sustainability remains a concern; recurring penalties may lose deterrence if not paired with practical alternatives for farmers.
• Logistic bottlenecks: Clearing residues without burning requires access to machines, incentives, and logistics — gaps remain in Punjab’s system.

What Needs to Be Done

To arrest the resurgence and steer toward long-term transformation, the following actions are critical:

• Accelerated mechanisation support: Rental services for ‘Happy Seeders’ and other no-burn implements must be scaled up rapidly across all districts, especially hotspots like Sangrur/Tarn Taran.
• Incentives-plus-penalties model: While fines and red-entries send signals, real change demands viable alternatives for farmers — e.g., crop-residue procurement, subsidies for mechanised removal.
• Harvest scheduling support: Weather-linked delays in paddy harvesting must trigger contingency support (e.g., mobile units, crop drying) to avoid burn-due-to-delay scenarios.
• Heightened monitoring: Use of satellite remote-sensing, block-level audits, and real-time hot-spot mapping must be expanded and linked with predictive analytics to pre-empt spikes.
• Community engagement & awareness: Farmer unions, village teams, and civil-society groups must ramp up awareness efforts, especially when the sowing window narrows and urge to burn rises.
• Regional coordination: Since the fires affect NCR and beyond, Punjab’s efforts must align with adjoining states (Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan) and central bodies like the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) to manage cross-border pollutant flows.

Bottom-line

Punjab’s farm-fire figures this season — while significantly lower in cumulative terms — reveal a fragile respite rather than a full turnaround. With 321 fresh fires in one day and 67 per cent of the season’s total emerging in just one week, the clock is ticking. Unless interventions intensify and structural alternatives to burning scale up, the state risks reverting to last year’s crisis mode. The challenge now is not just containment, but consolidation — turning a decline into durable transformation of residue-management practices.

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