Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann stated on Saturday (September 19, 2026) that he does not ‘favour’ FIRs being filed against farmers for stubble burning, and emphasised that paddy growers should receive a cash incentive for not setting their crop residue on fire.

Mr. Mann made these remarks just days before the paddy harvesting season in Punjab begins.

Also Read: Stubble burning in Punjab, Haryana | Caught in the cross (farm) fire

Stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana is often blamed for increased air pollution in the Delhi-NCR region. Due to the short window for the Rabi crop (wheat) after the paddy harvest in October and November, many farmers burn their fields to quickly clear the crop residue.

Paddy growers have been demanding a ₹3,000 cash incentive per acre for managing paddy stubble.

Addressing a gathering after inaugurating the two-day Kisan Mela of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) in Ludhiana on Friday (September 18), Mr. Mann lamented that Punjab farmers are always blamed for spreading air pollution in Delhi by burning paddy straw.

“The Centre says Punjab has contributed 180 lakh metric tonnes of paddy to the central pool. But they [Centre] do not consider how much of that stubble comes from the 180 lakh MT. They [Centre] suggest registering FIRs,” Mr. Mann said.

He mentioned that he has conveyed to the Centre that farmers do not wish to burn paddy stubble, as the smoke affects them directly.

Mr. Mann reiterated that he has informed the Centre that farmers should be given financial incentives for managing their paddy stubble.

Furthermore, he mentioned that Maryam Nawaz, Chief Minister of Pakistan’s Punjab, had said that she would write to him regarding smoke affecting Lahore.

“Is it only our smoke in the air? Do the emissions from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh not contribute? They are merely trying to defame Punjab,” he asked, expressing displeasure with the blame directed toward Punjab for air pollution.

“Parcha purcha tan dil nahin karda yaar, ein andante te parcha kiven kar daange, par lor hi na pave us hisab naal kar liyo. [I do not feel like registering FIRs against farmers. How can FIRs be filed against them?],” he asked.

Farmer leaders in Punjab linked Mr. Mann’s recent statements on stubble burning to the upcoming Assembly elections.

Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) general secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan urged the government to first cancel any FIRs already registered against farmers for stubble burning.

Mr. Kokrikalan suggested that CM Mann’s comments were politically motivated, given the approaching Assembly elections. He called on the government to withdraw existing FIRs against farmers.

BKU (Lakhowal) leader Harinder Singh Lakhowal echoed the sentiment that the government should provide cash incentives to farmers for managing stubble burning.

Every year, FIRs are filed against farmers who engage in stubble burning under Section 223 (disobedience of an order promulgated by a public servant) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

Those found guilty face fines as environmental compensation, and a “red entry” is noted in revenue records, which can prevent farmers from obtaining loans or selling their farmland.

Punjab saw an 86% reduction in stubble fire incidents from 2023 to 2025, with incidents dropping from 36,663 in 2023 to 10,909 in 2024 and further to 5,114 in 2025.

The State recorded 49,922 farm fire events in 2022, 71,304 in 2021, 76,590 in 2020, 55,210 in 2019 and 50,590 in 2018, with many districts, including Sangrur, Mansa, Bathinda and Amritsar, witnessing a large number of stubble burning incidents.

The State government runs awareness campaigns at the village and block levels to educate farmers about the dangers of burning paddy straw.

Besides, crop residue management machinery like super seeder, smart seeder, happy seeder, paddy straw chopper, shredder, mulcher, hydraulic reversible mould board plough and zero till drill under the in-situ (mixing crop residue in fields) management method and baler and rake under the ex-situ (using stubble as fuel) management method are made available on subsidy.

The subsidy is 50% of the cost of equipment for individual farmers and 80% for cooperative societies and panchayats.

Published – September 19, 2026 05:14 pm IST

Chandigarh:

Punjab recorded a 70 per cent reduction in farm fires this season, said Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khuddian here on Saturday.

Punjab reported 10,909 stubble-burning incidents from September 15 to November 30 this year, compared to 36,663 such incidents in the corresponding period last year.

The significant reduction in farm fires can be attributed to increased mechanisation in the agricultural sector, he said in a statement here.

Gurmeet Singh Khuddian said 22,582 sanction letters were issued to farmers for subsidised crop residue management machines, with 16,125 machines being procured.

Lauding farmers for the decline in the number of farm fires, he said, “It’s our collective responsibility to save the environment for our future generations. Stubble burning not only causes air pollution but also reduces the fertility of the soil.” Stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana after harvesting paddy in October and November is often blamed for the rise in air pollution in Delhi.

As the window for the Rabi crop wheat is very short after paddy harvest, some farmers set their fields on fire to quickly clear the crop residue for the next sowing season.

Punjab recorded a total of 36,663 farm fires in 2023, registering a 26 per cent drop in such incidents.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Winter is approaching, so is bad air quality in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR). Crop-residue or stubble burning in neighbouring Punjab and Haryana is likely to add to the city’s worsening air quality index, or AQI.

We look at the farm fire situation in Punjab, based on data and imagery from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) that has been tracking the situation for the past few years.

On October 25, 2019, the dots you see on this map of Punjab are of farm fires. It changes every year.

On October 25, 2020, the dots representing farm fires remain similar.

The same dots are seen every year – 2021, 2022, 2023 – in the sample imagery taken on the same date.

Now, just a couple of hours ago today, the NASA imagery shows a large area with the red dots, showing significant farm fires in Punjab.

To understand the data, we need to look at the trends between October 1 and 25, i.e. today. The data gives some interesting insights into the problem.

Between 2012 and now, except 2016, when farm fires really raged across Punjab, there has been a broad downward trend in crop residue burning. For example, 2020. But if you see 2023, the number indicates stubble burning in Punjab has been at its lowest since 2012.

“I was surprised to see that the fires in Punjab and Haryana have been lowest. We have never seen such low farm fires trend. There could be two reasons – the burning season has been delayed for some reason. It seems rainfall was in excess in Haryana and Punjab this July and August, which destroyed some crops,” Hiren Jethva, Senior Research Scientist at Morgan State University NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre, told NDTV today.

“I am a bit afraid the (burning) season has been delayed, and we haven’t seen the big fires, likely to happen in the coming two weeks,” the scientist said.

Delhi’s air quality was recorded in the “poor” category for a third day running on Wednesday and a major improvement is unlikely over the next few days, according to monitoring agencies. The city’s average air quality index (AQI) stood at 238 at 10 am, worsening from 220 at 4 pm on Tuesday.

The average AQI was 196 in neighbouring Ghaziabad, 258 in Faridabad, 176 in Gurugram, 200 in Noida and 248 in Greater Noida.

According to the Centre’s Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi, the city’s air quality is likely to oscillate between the “poor” and “very poor” categories over the next four to five days.

An AQI between zero and 50 is considered good, 51 and 100 satisfactory, 101 and 200 moderate, 201 and 300 poor, 301 and 400 very poor, and 401 and 500 severe.

Delhi’s air quality had turned “very poor” on Sunday for the first time since May, mainly due to a drop in temperature and wind speed, which allowed pollutants to accumulate.

New Delhi:

The fields of Punjab are again black with burnt stubble ahead of winter. The air is smoky, likely toxic. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi had blamed Punjab’s farm fires for air pollution in the National Capital Region (NCR) in 2021.

A year later, the AAP came to power in Punjab, and had promised it would control stubble burning. Now, two years later, stubble-burning in the border state is back again.

Sources said the AAP has not done any effective work to ensure the deadly farm fires do not return.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, calling himself the “son of a farmer”, had met farmer leaders to persuade them not to burn crop stubble. He had claimed many panchayats in Punjab even passed resolutions against burning of crop residue.

His Delhi counterpart and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal last year said, “I expect that from next year, stubble burning incidents will come down. We will take steps to ensure this. Both our governments are responsible for stubble-burning in Punjab.”

This year, Mr Kejriwal said case of stubble-burning have fallen significantly.

But Punjab farmers are back to burning crop residue at the onset of the harvesting season. Many farmers have complained that access to crushing machines like bailers and seeders are still unfulfilled goals.

Mr Mann’s call for crop diversification, too, has not been helpful as alternative crops are still expensive for farmers to afford. The farmers say they are not behind air pollution, but are also the victims of this menace.

Though farm fire cases have reduced in the past two years, over 30,000 acres were still set on fire last year. The number of farm fire cases reported in the past two years till now was: 2021 (320), 2022 (630) and 2023 (845).

The number of stubble-burning cases reported between September and October this year is as high as 845, up from less than 600 last year.

Delhi’s air quality has fallen from “poor” to “very poor” category, and the particulate matter PM2.5 levels are 60 times more than the World Health Organisation’s safe limit.

The graded action response plan (GARP) level 1 has kicked in and the impact in Delhi is clearly visible.

The first stage of the emergency pollution plan has led to a blanket ban on coal and firewood and restriction on truck traffic in Delhi.

The Air Quality Index (AQI) in Delhi was recorded at 231 at 9 am. An AQI between zero and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 and 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 and 500 ‘severe’.