CAQM calls Emergency Meet in Chandigarh as stubble-burning cases spike across Punjab, Haryana

October 31, 2025

Amid reports of rising stubble-burning incidents across Punjab and Haryana—especially during the evening hours—the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) is holding an urgent stakeholder meeting at Kisan Bhawan, Chandigarh, today. Officials from both states and their respective Pollution Control Boards are attending the crucial session.

Stubble burning during late evening 

The meeting comes as a high-stakes cat-and-mouse game continues between monitoring agencies and farmers in Punjab. To evade satellite detection, several farmers have reportedly begun setting fields ablaze late in the evening, outside the surveillance window of satellites that typically capture farm fire images in the afternoon and midnight.

Stubble-burning continues unabated

After the season’s peak of 283 incidents recorded on Wednesday, another 202 fresh cases were reported on Thursday, taking the total tally to 1,418 since September 15.

Punjab’s air quality is rapidly becoming toxic due to rise in stubble burning incidents. Contrary to claims that stubble burning is decreasing, record-breaking cases are now being reported daily. On Wednesday, 283 new cases of stubble burning were reported in Punjab, the highest so far this season. This surpasses the previous record set in 2024. In 2024, a total of 219 cases of stubble burning were reported on this day.