Centre Issues Directives To Different State Governments In Northern India To Prevent Burning Of Wheat Stubble

By Santu Das

New Delhi: In view of the upcoming wheat harvesting season, the Central government has asked different state governments, including Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab, to take various steps to control air pollution resulting from the burning of wheat straw.

Northern India, especially Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR), encounters air pollution issues throughout the year, with stubble burning activities exacerbating the pollution during the harvesting season. The burning of crop residues not only affects the air quality in the region but also has repercussions on the local air quality in the areas where it occurs.

The burning of wheat stubble is a significant concern due to its detrimental effects on air quality.

Fire Incidents Recorded During Wheat Harvesting Season

According to the standard protocol established by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)/ Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), the number of fire incidents recorded during the last wheat harvesting season (from April 1 to May 31, 2025) in Punjab, Haryana, and the NCR districts of Uttar Pradesh were 10,207, 1,832, and 259, respectively.

The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) in NCR and Adjoining areas, under the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in its recent order issued to the respective state governments, a copy of which was accessed by ETV Bharat said that since its inception, it has been deliberating on the paddy stubble burning issue with key stakeholders including different academic and knowledge institutions in this regard.

It mentioned that Haryana, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh have been formulating and updating their State-specific Annual Action Plans for the prevention and control of paddy stubble burning on a year-to-year basis.

Pointing out that it has identified prevention and control of paddy stubble burning as a priority area, the CAQM said it has issued directions for the elimination of paddy stubble burning, and States have been implementing the same.

"The matter of wheat stubble burning was deliberated in the 26th meeting of the Commission held on December 22, 2025, and subsequent meetings held with the State Governments of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, wherein the state governments presented their respective plans of action. The Commission advised these states to update and refine the Action Plans," read the letter.

In view of the urgent need to control air pollution from the burning of wheat straw, the Commission, in exercise of the powers conferred upon it under Section 12 of the CAQM Act, 2021, has directed the Haryana, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh governments to effectively implement the State Action Plan in letter and spirit, to eliminate and control the wheat stubble burning.

In its letter to the state governments, the CAQM has directed them to map each farm in all the villages for the proposed mode of wheat stubble management (crop diversification/in-situ management / ex-situ management/fodder etc), tag specific nodal officers to a group of farmers, covering all farmers in the district, adding maximum 100 farmers could be tagged with each nodal officer, for effective monitoring.

It has directed to ensure optimum utilization and timely availability of CRM machines to the farmers, mainly during the peak harvesting season, through a mobile app, mandate rent-free availability of CRM machines for small/marginal farmers through the Customer Hiring Centres (CHCs), provide adequate and appropriate storage facility for wheat straw, ensuring minimization of losses due to fire; establish a robust and continuous supply chain of wheat straw in various forms for ex-situ applications including its use as fodder.

"A District Level Supply Chain Management Plan is to be formulated for each district, considering demand and supply throughout the year. Constitute a dedicated 'Parali Protection Force' (PPF) at the district/block level comprising of police officers, officers of the Agriculture Department, administrative officers, nodal/cluster officers and officials from other stakeholder Departments, to closely monitor, oversee and guard against any incidence of open wheat stubble burning," the CAQM said.

In addition to that, the CAQM has asked for intensifying patrolling by enforcement agencies during late evening hours, considering the tendency of some farmers to resort to burning during late evening hours to evade the satellite recording of the farm fires. It has also been asked to ensure the imposition and realization of appropriate Environmental Compensation (EC) charges in respect of all such persons who resort to stubble burning.

The CAQM has also asked to undertake extensive information, education and communication (IEC) activities and awareness programs about various measures and schemes to prevent crop residue burning and also to educate farmers about best practices and athe dverse impact of stubble burning.

Delhi and Rajasthan governments shall also make every effort towards totally eliminating wheat stubble burning incidents during the ensuing harvest season, it said.

The CAQM said the status of the actions taken as per the respective Action Plans shall be reported to the Commission on a monthly basis.

Environmentalists View

Reacting to the directives of the CAQM environmentalist Deepak Ramesh Gaur, on Monday, told ETV Bharat, "This is a good step. However, this should be strictly implemented by the concerned agencies."

"This will probably provide immediate benefit. But, we have to find long term solution. The government should work on this," he said.