Chandigarh: Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday claimed that farm fire incidents in the state had declined by 86% between 2023 and 2025. However, he called for increased public awareness to further curb paddy straw burning in Punjab.Chairing a meeting to develop a paddy straw management strategy, Mann stated that the approximately 30 lakh hectares of paddy sown in Punjab this year was expected to generate 18.81 million tonnes of paddy straw.“Due to the Punjab govt’s efforts, the state has witnessed an 86% reduction in stubble fire incidents from 2023 to 2025. The incidents have come down from 36,663 in 2023 to 10,909 in 2024 and further to 5,114 in 2025. We have to take this progress further and ensure that stubble burning incidents are reduced even more this year,” Mann said.Directing officers to take the campaign deep into villages and blocks, the CM stressed that active participation of NGOs, social workers, panchayats and farmers, backed by large-scale social media outreach and stronger ex-situ and in-situ paddy straw management was essential.He said NGOs and social workers should be actively involved in the campaign to strengthen efforts to motivate farmers. “NGOs and social workers should be roped into motivating farmers. Machinery demonstrations, street plays, meetings with sarpanches, pledge-taking activities and other awareness programmes must be organised extensively so that the message reaches farmers at the grassroots level,” Mann said.“A detailed digital plan should be implemented covering radio jingles, print media, television, mobile SMS and outdoor media. The social media awareness campaign should also be conducted on a big scale to create wider awareness about the harmful effects of paddy straw burning and the available management options,” he added.Emphasising the need to encourage farmers and village institutions that perform well, the CM stated, “Progressive farmers, best-performing Panchayats, PACS (Primary Agricultural Credit Societies) and other stakeholders should be felicitated for their contribution. Such recognition will encourage others to adopt better practices and make paddy straw management a collective movement.”
