Governments, including the state and the Centre, have claimed that incidents of paddy stubble burning have reduced significantly over the years due to a number of measures, including stricter enforcement, access to subsidized crop residue management machines. Punjab government data based on satellite aggregation shows that there were 10,909 farm fire incidents in the state in 2024 compared to 36,663 in 2023, a 70% decrease.
While Punjab reports a significant decline in farm fires from 2021, the total area burned by these fires has expanded considerably. Satellite data from the Punjab Center for Remote Sensing and the Punjab Pollution Control Board show that in 2024, the area under ‘residue burning for paddy field’, which gives a relatively stronger sense of farm fire threat, reached about 19.17 million hectares, compared to about 19.14 million hectares in 2023.
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Is Punjab’s stubble burning problem really abating? | Explained
The rice harvest has picked up in Punjab, a key grain-producing state, and so have incidents of stubble burning.
