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Science & TechEnvironment

Punjab logs its worst day of farm fires this season as harvest picks up

Fifty-one stubble fires in a single day took the state's season count to 174, ahead of last year's pace, with Amritsar and Tarn Taran again the hotspots.

From the editorial desk · ChandigarhPublished
Stubble burning in a Punjab field
Stubble burning in a Punjab fieldPhoto: CIAT / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

Key points

  1. Punjab recorded 51 farm fires in one day, its highest this season.
  2. The season total reached 174 by 13 October, about 38% more than at the same point last year.
  3. Most fires were in Amritsar and Tarn Taran, while Barnala and Bathinda reported none.

Punjab has recorded its worst day of stubble burning so far this season, with 51 farm fires in a single day, as the paddy harvest gathers pace across the state’s northern districts.

The count took the season’s total to 174 by 13 October, about 38% higher than at the same point last year. Most of the fires were in Amritsar and Tarn Taran, the two border districts that have led the tally all season. Barnala and Bathinda, in the southern Malwa belt, reported none.

A faster start than last year

The rise is steep. In the first week of October the state had logged 84 fires, according to data from the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), with Amritsar alone accounting for 49 and Tarn Taran for 18. The number has roughly doubled in a little over a week.

Last year’s season ended with 5,114 incidents in Punjab, a 53% fall from 2024 and the lowest count in recent years.

Authorities have stepped up monitoring with drones for real-time tracking, and fines have already been issued. The CAQM has deployed flying squads across 18 Punjab districts from 1 October to 30 November to work with district officials, the state pollution control board and the Parali Protection Force.

Why Delhi is watching

The fires matter well beyond Punjab. Delhi’s air turned noticeably worse early this month, with the capital’s AQI at 187 on 6 October and 15 monitoring stations in the “poor” range, its most polluted start to October since 2020. No official assessment has yet tied that rise to farm fires; weak winds and local road and construction dust are the main factors so far.

Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta has already turned the issue on Punjab’s AAP government, posting footage of a fire in Tarn Taran.

Stubble burning has started again in Tarn Taran.

Source: Rekha Gupta, Delhi Chief Minister, on X, 6 October 2026

Most of the paddy crop is still to be cut. At a review with state ministers on Tuesday, the Centre warned states doing better than last year not to relax, and named Sangrur, Tarn Taran, Amritsar, Patiala and Gurdaspur among the Punjab districts needing tighter enforcement.

The documents