Punjab gets breather after 9 days of surge in farm fire cases; Sangrur worst-affected

Bathinda: Punjab finally saw a breather after nine days of surge in crop residue burning, reporting 39 farm fire cases on Wednesday — fewer than in Madhya Pradesh (118) and Uttar Pradesh (143).The past 10 days accounted for over 92% of the state's 3,729 tally, with 3,460 incidents recorded during this period. Daily figures stood at 423 on May 5, 447 on May 4, 417 on May 3, 644 on May 2, 341 on May 1, 342 on April 30, 447 on April 29, 135 on April 28, and 225 on April 27, before dropping to 39 on May 6.Sangrur remained the worst-affected district with the maximum, 434, cases reported till May 6, followed by 408 in Ferozepur, 318 in Bathinda, 312 in Tarn Taran, 242 in Fazilka, 231 in Muktsar, 224 in Mansa, 193 in Gurdaspur, 175 in Barnala, 166 in Amritsar, 154 in Patiala, 148 in Hoshiarpur, 142 in Moga, 135 in Ludhiana and 130 in Faridkot. Meanwhile, 8 other districts reported less than 100 cases during the same period.Till April 30, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh were reporting significantly higher numbers of farm fire cases. Of 54,525 cases reported so far across five states, 62% incidents (34,123) have been reported from Madhya Pradesh.As per the ‘Consortium for Research on Agroecosystem Monitoring and Modeling From Space' (CREAMS), Madhya Pradesh has accounted for nearly 51% of crop residue burning cases over the past five years. Of the total 2,53,064 cases reported between 2022 and May 6, 2026, as many as 1,28,809 were from MP, followed by 59,935 from UP, 51,706 from Punjab, 12,452 from Haryana and 162 from Delhi.The highest number of incidents, 4,060, are from Vidisha district in MP. Overall, 89 districts across MP, UP, Punjab and Haryana have recorded over 100 cases each till May 6.Earlier, during the 2025 kharif paddy harvesting season, MP topped stubble burning cases with 17,067 incidents, followed by UP (7,290) and Punjab (5,114).191 FIRs, 305 red entries; Rs 25.4 lakh fine imposedAccording to the Punjab Pollution Control Board's action-taken report dashboard, 191 FIRs under Section 223 of the BNS were registered in Punjab till the evening of May 5, including 111 in a single day. Of these, Sangrur accounted for the highest number (70), followed by Fazilka (35), Mansa (32), Barnala (15), Bathinda (12), Kapurthala and Patiala (6 each), Gurdaspur (5), Faridkot and Ludhiana (4 each), and Moga and Pathankot (1 each).A total of 305 "red entries" have been made in land records, including 127 on May 5 alone. An environmental compensation of Rs 25.4 lakh has been imposed in 511 farm fire cases, with Rs 12.3 lakh levied in a single day. So far, Rs 1.5 lakh has been recovered.Crop residue burning cases till May 6MP: 34,123UP: 13,944Punjab: 3,729Haryana: 2,683Delhi: 46Total: 54,525MSID:: 130858079 413 |