Punjab reports 79 farm fires in a day; Ferozepur tops stubble burning cases

Bathinda: Punjab reported 79 farm fire cases on Tuesday, taking the total number of crop residue burning incidents in the current season to 9,531, with Ferozepur emerging as the worst-affected district.According to data, Ferozepur has recorded the highest 905 crop residue burning cases so far this season. Legal action against violators continued across the state, including registration of FIRs, red entries in land records and imposition of environmental compensation.According to the Punjab Pollution Control Board's action taken report dashboard, 738 FIRs had been registered under Section 223 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) till the evening of May 18.Moga recorded the highest 194 FIRs, followed by Amritsar (154), Sangrur (71), Mansa (60), Patiala (59), Fazilka (51) and Barnala (45).A total of 846 red entries had been made in land records, while environmental compensation of Rs 1 crore had been imposed in 2,126 farm fire cases. Out of this, Rs 7.15 lakh has been recovered so far.The state also issued warning and show-cause notices to 130 nodal and supervisory officers.Across the country, Madhya Pradesh reported 220 farm fire cases on Tuesday, Uttar Pradesh 55 and Haryana six cases.According to the Consortium for Research on Agroecosystem Monitoring and Modeling from Space (CREAMS), a total of 65,994 crop residue burning cases have been reported in the country so far this season, including 37,652 in Madhya Pradesh, 15,392 in Uttar Pradesh, 9,531 in Punjab, 3,355 in Haryana and 64 in Delhi.CREAMS data showed Madhya Pradesh accounted for nearly half of the crop residue burning cases reported in the country over the last five years. Of the total 2,64,533 cases recorded between 2022 and May 20, 2026, Madhya Pradesh accounted for 1,32,338 cases, followed by Uttar Pradesh (61,383), Punjab (57,508) and Haryana (13,124).