Farm fires: Punjab reports 115 new cases

Bathinda: With 115 new crop residue burning cases on Monday, Punjab's tally during this kharif season has reached 9,452. Ferozepur remains to be the worst-affected district with the maximum, 903, cases till May 18, followed by 740 in Bathinda, 733 in Moga, 712 in Tarn Taran, 696 in Amritsar, 676 in Sangrur, 623 in Gurdaspur, 610 in Ludhiana, 531 in Muktsar, 407 in Fazilka, 396 in Patiala, 367 in Faridkot, 351 in Jalandhar, 343 in Barnala, 342 in Mansa, 306 in Kapurthala, 229 in Hoshiarpur, 167 in Malerkotla, 118 in SBS Nagar and 114 in Fatehgarh Sahib. Other three districts have reported less than 100 stubble burning cases so far.Madhya Pradesh reported 227 farm fire cases in the day, while Uttar Pradesh and Haryana saw 46 and 11 incidents, respectively. Of the total cases (65,634) reported so far in this season, 37,432 incidents are from Madhya Pradesh. As per the ‘Consortium for research on agroecosystem monitoring and modeling from space' (CREAMS), MP has reported close to 50% of the crop residue burning cases in the last five years. Of 2,64,173 cases reported from 2022 to May 18, 2026, MP reported 1,32,118 cases followed by UP (61,328), Punjab (57,429), Haryana (13,118) and Delhi (180). The maximum 4,350 burning cases have been reported from Videsha district of Madhya Pradesh.As per the Punjab Pollution Control Board action-taken report dashboard, 731 FIRs have been filed under Section 223 of the BNS by May 17 evening. Out of the total, 187 FIRs have been filed in Moga district followed by 154 in Amritsar, 71 FIRs in Sangrur, 60 in Mansa, 59 FIRs in Patiala, 51 in Fazilka, 45 in Barnala, 36 in Kapurthala, 30 in Gurdaspur, 15 in Bathinda, 13 in Faridkot, four in Jalandhar, three in Muktsar, two in Pathankot and one in Ludhiana. At least 784 red entries have been made in land records. Of Rs 93.79 lakh environmental compensation imposed in 1,995 cases, Rs 6,25,000 has been realised. Warning/show cause notices have been issued to 130 nodal/supervisory officers.Cases till May 18MP: 37,432UP: 15,337Punjab: 9,452Haryana: 3,349Delhi: 64Total: 65,634