The sustained and rigorous efforts of the Civil Administration and Punjab Police to curb stubble burning have yielded remarkable results, with the state witnessing a nearly four-fold reduction in farm fire cases this year compared to the same period in the previous two years.
According to official data compiled from September 15 to October 21, Punjab has recorded only 415 cases of farm fires in 2025. This marks a significant decline from 1,510 incidents reported in 2024 and 1,764 incidents in 2023 during the same critical period.
In compliance with the directions of the Hon’ble Supreme Court and the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) to bring down stubble burning cases to zero, Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav and Special DGP (Law and Order) Arpit Shukla have been personally monitoring the state’s action plan.
The DGP has been holding regular meetings with senior officers, Range Officers, Commissioners of Police/Senior Superintendents of Police (CPs/SSPs), and Station House Officers (SHOs) to review stubble burning cases on a day-to-day basis.
Special DGP Arpit Shukla said that police teams, in coordination with the civil administration, have been making tireless efforts at the grassroots level to curb the menace of stubble burning.
He added that Deputy Commissioners (DCs)/SSPs and Sub-Divisional Magistrates (SDMs)/Deputy Superintendents of Police (DSPs) have been conducting joint visits to villages identified as stubble burning hotspots and holding awareness meetings with various farmer and kisan unions at both district and sub-divisional levels.
Over the past few days, 251 joint visits were made by DCs/SSPs and 790 joint visits by SDMs/DSPs, during which 2,381 public awareness meetings were conducted. Additionally, 1,769 meetings were held specifically with farmer/kisan unions. A ‘Parali Protection Force’ has also been constituted at the police station level to maintain vigilance and sensitize farmers about the harmful effects of setting crop residue on fire.
Special DGP Shukla further stated that strict legal action is being taken against violators. Of the 415 farm fires detected by the Punjab Remote Sensing Centre (PRSC), joint teams were dispatched for spot inspections. FIRs have been registered in 172 cases, penalties imposed in 189 cases, and red entries made in the revenue records of 165 farmers.