Bathinda: Punjab recorded 49 incidents of farm fires on Sunday, bringing the total number of crop residue burning cases this season to 9,718. The district of Ferozepur remained the most affected, with the highest count of 918 farm fire cases reported up to May 24.
District-Wise Breakdown of Farm Fires
Following Ferozepur, the district of Moga reported at least 752 cases, while Bathinda recorded 746 incidents. Tarn Taran saw 714 cases, Amritsar had 705, Sangrur reported 690, Gurdaspur logged 636, and Ludhiana recorded 628 cases. Muktsar had 537 farm fires, Fazilka reported 415, Patiala recorded 412, Jalandhar saw 402, Faridkot had 372, Mansa reported 349, Barnala logged 346, Kapurthala recorded 335, Hoshiarpur had 236, Malerkotla saw 170, SBS Nagar reported 142, and Fatehgarh Sahib recorded 120 cases. The remaining three districts in Punjab reported fewer than 100 farm fire incidents each.
Farm Fire Cases in Other States
On Sunday, Madhya Pradesh reported 161 new farm fire incidents, while Uttar Pradesh and Haryana logged 50 and 10 new cases, respectively. The total number of farm fire cases across the country this season has reached 67,370. Of these, Madhya Pradesh accounts for 38,561 cases, which is 57 percent of the total. According to the Consortium for Research on Agroecosystem Monitoring and Modeling from Space (CREAMS), Madhya Pradesh has reported over 50 percent of all crop residue burning cases in the last five years. From 2022 to May 24, 2026, a total of 2,65,909 cases were reported nationwide, with Madhya Pradesh contributing 1,33,247 incidents. Uttar Pradesh reported 61,633 cases, Punjab 57,695, Haryana 13,153, and Delhi 181. The highest number of burning cases in Madhya Pradesh was recorded in the Vidisha district, with 4,435 incidents.
Kharif Season Data
During the 2025 kharif season, Madhya Pradesh topped the list with 17,067 crop residue burning cases, followed by Uttar Pradesh with 7,290 cases and Punjab with 5,114 cases.
Legal and Enforcement Actions
According to the Punjab Pollution Control Board's action-taken report dashboard, 768 FIRs have been filed under Section 223 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) up to May 23 evening. Among these, Moga district recorded the highest number of FIRs at 208, followed by Amritsar with 154, Sangrur with 71, Mansa and Patiala with 60 each, Fazilka with 51, Kapurthala with 50, Barnala with 45, Gurdaspur with 30, Bathinda with 15, Faridkot with 13, Jalandhar with 4, Muktsar with 3, and Pathankot and Ludhiana with 2 each. Additionally, at least 929 red entries have been made in land records. Environmental compensation amounting to Rs 1.1 crore has been imposed in 2,286 cases, of which Rs 9,05,000 has been recovered. Warning and show cause notices have been issued to 137 nodal and supervisory officers.
Seasonal Totals by State (as of May 24)
- Madhya Pradesh: 38,561
- Uttar Pradesh: 15,642
- Punjab: 9,718
- Haryana: 3,384
- Delhi: 65
- Total: 67,370
