Bathinda: The crop residue burning incidents continued to rise in both Punjab and Haryana on Wednesday, with the two states recording the highest one-day counts in the ongoing wheat harvesting season.While Punjab reported 447 new crop residue burning incidents, Haryana recorded 376 cases. The Wednesday figures pushed the total count past the 1,000 mark in Punjab and beyond the 1,300 mark in Haryana.With the spurt in farm fire cases, the administration has started penal actions against the violators, registering FIRs and marking red entries in land records, besides imposing environmental compensation against the erring farmers.Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh continued to top the crop residue burning cases. The state recorded 1,060 incidents on Wednesday, pushing the total count past 31,500. Uttar Pradesh registered 229 fresh incidents.The total farm fire cases registered so far this season reached 47,056, with MP contributing over 67% or 31,546 incidents.As per the Consortium for Research on Agroecosystem Monitoring and Modelling from Space (CREAMS), MP has reported over 51% of the crop residue burning cases in the last five years. Out of the total 2,45,595 cases reported from 2022 to April 29, 2026, 1,26,232 have been reported from MP, followed by 59,078 from UP, 49,053 from Punjab, 11,096 from Haryana and 136 from Delhi.A maximum 3,870 burning cases have been reported from Videsha district of Madhya Pradesh. Sixty-nine districts of MP, UP, Haryana and Punjab have reported over 100 burning cases each till April 29.Earlier, during the paddy harvesting in the 2025 kharif season, MP topped the stubble burning with 17,067 cases, followed by Uttar Pradesh (7,290) and Punjab (5,114).Crop residue burning cases till April 29MP: 31,546UP: 13,087Haryana: 1,327Punjab: 1,076Delhi: 20Total: 47,05613 FIRs registered in Punjab (BOX)In Punjab, 13 FIRs were registered against the violators by Tuesday evening. Six FIRs were lodged in Kapurthala, four in Jalandhar, two in Bathinda, and one in Barnala district. Nineteen red entries have also been made in land records. The FIRs have been filed under Section 223 of the BNS (disobedience to order duly promulgated by a public servant). Also, Rs 1.35 lakh environmental compensation has been imposed in 24 cases. In all, 629 farm fire cases were reported by Tuesday evening in Punjab, with 22 of the 23 districts, except Roopnagar, reporting one or more stubble burning cases.
