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Chandigarh, Oct 22 (IANS) The Punjab government on Wednesday claimed that sustained efforts by the civil administration and police to stop stubble burning have yielded significant results, and the state has seen almost a four-fold reduction in farm fire cases this year compared to the same period in the last two years.
According to official data compiled from September 15 to October 21, just 415 cases of farm fires have been recorded in the state in 2025.
“This represents a striking decline from the 1,510 incidents recorded in 2024 and the 1,764 incidents recorded during the same critical period in 2023,” the government said in a statement.
In compliance with the directions of the Supreme Court and the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) to bring down the cases of stubble burning to zero, Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav and Special Director General of Police, Law and Order, Arpit Shukla are monitoring the action against stubble burning.
The statement said the DGP is personally holding meetings with all senior officers, range officers, CPs and SSPs and station house officers (SHOs) to review stubble burning cases on a daily basis.
Special Director General of Police Shukla said that police teams, in collaboration with the civil administration, are making efforts at the ground level to stop the problem of stubble burning.
He said senior officials are conducting joint visits to villages that have been identified as stubble burning hotspots and holding public awareness meetings with various farmers and farmer unions at the district and sub-division levels.
In the last few days, 251 joint visits were made by Deputy Commissioners and Senior Superintendents of Police, and 90 joint visits were made by Sub-Divisional Magistrates and Deputy Superintendents of Police, during which they held 2,381 public awareness meetings.
Besides, Stubble Protection Force has also been formed at the police station level, which along with keeping a vigil is making the farmers aware about the ill effects of putting matchsticks in the crop residue.
Special DGP said that legal action is being initiated against those found burning stubble. So far, he said, 415 farm fires have been detected by the Punjab Remote Sensing Center (PSRC), and joint teams have been sent for spot inspection, while police teams have registered First Information Reports (FIRs) in 172 cases and imposed fines in 189 cases.
He said that red entries have also been made in the revenue records of 165 farmers.
–IANS
GG/VD