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CAQM Orders Punjab and Haryana to Police Wheat-Season Stubble Burning

The move responds to evidence of widespread summer farm fires that often escape satellite tracking.

Overview

  • In a December 1 letter, the Commission directed an extension of ground-level monitoring and enforcement through the rabi harvest and requested a crop-residue action plan for the wheat cycle ending before summer 2026.
  • IARI’s CREAMS program counted 10,207 fire events in Punjab and 1,832 in Haryana between April 1 and May 31, 2025, underscoring significant summer burning.
  • An ISRO Space Applications Centre study published November 24 found peak farm-fire activity shifted toward early evening, reaching around 17:00 IST in 2024, with a narrowed burning window.
  • The ISRO analysis concluded that timing shifts likely cause underestimation of October–November fires in official counts from Punjab and Haryana.
  • CAQM flagged implementation gaps in 2025 with both detected and undetected fires and earlier sought detailed reports on burn sites missed by satellites and the actions taken.