Punjab Crosses 3,000 Stubble Burning Cases This Season: Tarn Taran Tops the List
Punjab recorded 3,144 incidents of stubble burning (setting fire to leftover paddy straw in fields) between 15 September and 6 November 2026.
Tarn Taran district recorded the highest number of cases in the state, followed by other Majha and border districts such as Ferozepur and Amritsar.
Authorities imposed fines, called environmental compensation, totalling ₹54.55 lakh in more than a thousand cases.
Police registered 795 FIRs (First Information Reports, the first step of a criminal case) under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Such cases are usually filed under Section 223 of the BNS, which punishes disobeying an order lawfully issued by a public servant.
For comparison, for the same period (15 September to 6 November) in 2025, the count was 3,284 incidents, so the 2026 figure so far is slightly lower.
Smoke from these fires is one of the causes of the sharp fall in Delhi-NCR's air quality in late October and November.
Stubble Burning: Causes, Consequences and Policy Response
Stubble burning means setting fire to crop residue, the stalks and stubble left in the field after harvest, to clear land quickly for the next crop. In India it happens mostly with paddy straw in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, between early October and late November. Farmers have only about two to three weeks between the paddy harvest and wheat sowing, and burning is the cheapest and fastest way to clear the field. The smoke adds fine particles (PM2.5) to the air and worsens winter pollution across north India.
The 3,144 cases, 795 FIRs and ₹54.55 lakh in fines show that the state is using both fines and criminal cases to deter burning. Tarn Taran's top position shows how burning is concentrated in a few districts, which is where machines, incentives and monitoring need to focus.
Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM)
The Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) is a statutory body (one set up by a law of Parliament) that manages air pollution in Delhi-NCR and nearby areas. Its area covers the NCR and the adjoining parts of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. It can issue binding directions to states, cities and industries, and it runs the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), a set of steps that become stricter as air quality gets worse.
The fines being collected in Punjab follow the environmental compensation rules framed for the CAQM area. CAQM tracks the state's daily fire counts and compares them with earlier years, and it can direct the state to tighten enforcement when burning rises.
- Stubble burning incidents in Punjab, 15 September to 6 November 2026: 3,144
- Same period in 2025: 3,284
- Highest district: Tarn Taran
- Environmental compensation imposed: ₹54.55 lakh, in over 1,000 cases
- FIRs registered: 795, under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (commonly Section 223)
- Compensation rates per incident: ₹5,000 (below 2 acres), ₹10,000 (2 to 5 acres), ₹30,000 (above 5 acres)
- CAQM: set up under the CAQM Act, 2021