Chandigarh, Nov 10 (PTI) Punjab witnessed 345 fresh farm fire incidents on Tuesday, taking the cumulative count to 5,002, with Tarn Taran, Ferozepur, and Sangrur districts accounting for the maximum number of such cases.
Many farmers continue to ignore government advisories to stop crop residue burning.
According to the official data, the highest number of farm fires were reported in Tarn Taran at 676, followed by Ferozepur at 654, Sangrur at 566, Bathinda at 439, Patiala at 339 and Barnala at 280.
Punjab recorded a total of 4,657 stubble burning incidents from September 15 till November 9.
Fines amounting to Rs 79.75 lakh have been imposed as environmental compensation in 1,574 cases so far. Of the total fine, Rs 36.40 lakh has been recovered so far.
The data also showed that 1,155 FIRs were registered against farm fire incidents during this period under Section 223 (disobedience of order promulgated by public servant) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
State authorities have also marked 1,342 red entries, 310 in Tarn Taran and 205 in Ferozepur, in the land records of farmers who burnt crop residues.
A red entry bars farmers from getting loans against their farmland or selling it.
The annual farm fire monitoring period begins on September 15, two weeks before paddy procurement starts on October 1.
Stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana is often blamed for the rise in air pollution in Delhi-NCR.
As the window for the Rabi crop, wheat, is very short after paddy harvest in October and November, some farmers set their fields on fire to quickly clear off the crop residue.
Punjab recorded 5,114 farm fire incidents during the 2025 paddy harvesting season. The state saw 10,909 farm fires in 2024 as compared to 36,663 in 2023.
(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)