978 farm fires in Punjab in a day, season’s highest

Bathinda: Punjab on Thursday recorded 978 crop residue burning cases, the highest single-day count so far in the ongoing wheat harvesting season, after a brief lull in incidents. The state also reported the highest number of farm fires among the five states being monitored for stubble burning.With the latest spike, Punjab's total farm fire count this season rose to 4,707.Ferozepur emerged as the worst-affected district with 487 crop residue burning cases till May 7, followed by Tarn Taran (478), Sangrur (454), Bathinda (427), Amritsar (319), Gurdaspur (275), Muktsar (274), Moga (260), Fazilka (255), Mansa (252), Barnala (219), Ludhiana (180), Faridkot (179), Patiala (156) and Hoshiarpur (148). Eight other districts reported fewer than 100 cases each.Authorities continued legal action against violators, including registration of FIRs, marking red entries in land records and imposing environmental compensation.Till Tuesday, Punjab had registered 191 FIRs, made 305 red entries in land records and imposed environmental compensation of Rs 25.4 lakh on farmers for stubble burning.Till April 30, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh were reporting significantly higher farm fire cases than Punjab. On Thursday, Madhya Pradesh reported 336 crop residue burning cases, while Uttar Pradesh recorded 34.The total number of farm fire cases reported so far this season across five states stood at 55,967. Of these, Madhya Pradesh alone accounted for 34,459 cases — over 61% of the total.According to the Consortium for Research on Agroecosystem Monitoring and Modeling from Space (CREAMS), which tracks stubble burning twice a year after paddy and wheat harvesting, Madhya Pradesh has consistently remained the biggest contributor to crop residue burning over the last five years.Between 2022 and May 7, 2026, the five states together recorded 254,506 crop residue burning cases. Madhya Pradesh accounted for 129,145 cases, followed by Uttar Pradesh (59,969), Punjab (52,684), Haryana (12,543) and Delhi (165).The highest number of burning cases this season has been reported from Vidisha district in Madhya Pradesh, with 4,094 incidents. As many as 90 districts across Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana have reported over 100 farm fire cases each till May 7.During the 2025 kharif paddy harvesting season too, Madhya Pradesh topped the country in stubble burning with 17,067 cases, followed by Uttar Pradesh (7,290) and Punjab (5,114).Crop residue burning cases till May 7Madhya Pradesh: 34,459Uttar Pradesh: 13,978Punjab: 4,707Haryana: 2,774
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