CAQM directs Punjab to strengthen measures and incentives to prevent stubble burning ahead of paddy harvest season
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Patiala: With the paddy harvesting season on the horizon, India's air quality regulator has directed Punjab to tighten enforcement and accelerate its push for crop diversification to curb stubble burning — a key contributor to the toxic winter smog that chokes northern India each year.
The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), during a high-level review meeting in the week, urged the state to bolster real-time monitoring — especially for night-time fires that often evade satellite detection — and to deploy a dedicated 'Parali Protection Force' in hotspot villages.
Chairperson Rajesh Verma, who led the meeting, laid out key priorities: scaling up in-situ and ex-situ management of paddy residue, strengthening supply chains for straw-based industries, pressing courts to lift legal barriers preventing mandatory use of paddy straw in brick kilns, and using penalties only as a last resort.
Progress was noted in some areas. Punjab officials said cotton cultivation rose 20% this year, aided by seed subsidies, while a ₹17,500-per-acre incentive is being offered to farmers who shift from paddy to maize — a move expected to cut future straw output.
Agriculture secretary Basant Garg reported that 3,181 crop-residue management (CRM) machines had been distributed to farmers out of a 4,300-unit target. The state is also establishing 1,500 new custom hiring centres, with 500 dedicated to ex-situ techniques like baling.
Punjab has also sought federal aid to subsidise CRM machinery operating costs. However, concerns remain. CAQM member (technical) Varinder Sharma flagged that the Guru Hargobind Thermal Power Plant at Lehra Mohabbat had achieved less than 3% of its co-firing target using paddy straw pellets — well below expectations.
On a more promising note, the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) highlighted progress in straw-based industrial use.
Chief environmental engineer Krunesh Garg said Punjab had exceeded 2024 goals for installing paddy-straw-fired boilers. New policies now mandate all future distilleries adopt straw-fired systems, while incentives for conventional fuel boilers are being phased out. Subsidies of up to ₹5 crore per unit are being offered for industrial conversions.
To showcase innovation in action, CAQM officials visited a paper mill in Mubarakpur village operating a 30 TPH paddy straw boiler, and a briquette plant processing 110 tonnes of straw daily.
Punjab's top officials assured the commission that lessons from past burning seasons were shaping a more aggressive strategy for 2025. Since 2018, more than 1.48 lakh subsidised CRM machines have been distributed under the central govt's CRM scheme.
Last year, ₹1.48 crore in environmental fines were collected from violators.
Officials project paddy straw generation will drop slightly from 19.52 million tonnes in 2024 to 19.32 million tonnes this year. Meanwhile, ex-situ straw use is targeted to rise from 5.96 million tonnes to 7.06 million tonnes in 2025 — a step toward reducing crop-burning emissions and improving winter air quality across the region.
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