StatesPunjab
Punjab farm fires edge past last year's count as Tarn Taran and Amritsar lead
Satellites have picked up 574 stubble fires in Punjab this season, slightly more than a year ago but two-thirds fewer than in 2024, as the AAP government and the BJP trade blame.
Key points
- Punjab recorded 574 farm fires between 15 September and 24 October.
- Tarn Taran and Amritsar account for more than 72 per cent of all fires.
- Police have registered 91 FIRs against farmers this season.
Punjab’s stubble-burning count has crept past last year’s, with satellites detecting 574 farm fires between 15 September and 24 October. That is 2.3 per cent more than the 561 recorded in the same period in 2025, though still 65.8 per cent below the 1,678 of 2024.
The fires are concentrated in the Majha belt. Tarn Taran has reported 270, up from 175 a year ago, and Amritsar 144, against 135. The two border districts together account for more than 72 per cent of the state’s total. Gurdaspur follows with 37, Kapurthala with 27 and Jalandhar with 12.
The state has stepped up enforcement. By 23 October, police had registered 91 FIRs against farmers, officials had made red entries in land records in 182 cases, and 305 nodal officers had been issued warnings or show-cause notices. Environmental compensation of ₹9.30 lakh had been imposed by 22 October, of which ₹4.93 lakh had been recovered.
Blame game
The numbers have sharpened a political row. The BJP accused the Aam Aadmi Party government of failing to rein in the fires. Delhi minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa wrote that “Delhi is still choking today.”
Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema hit back, saying the state had given farmers machinery worth more than ₹800 crore, and accused the BJP of “trying to threaten and malign” them.
Others argue that punishment is the wrong tool. Speaking in Phagwara under his Punjab Sambhalo Muhim campaign, Dr Avtar Singh Karimpuri said “the problem cannot be resolved merely by registering cases against farmers, imposing fines” or adverse entries. He urged the government to collect and remove stubble at its own cost, pay farmers a per-acre bonus for not burning, and back biomass and compressed biogas plants that use crop residue.