CAQM Reviews Stubble Burning Curbs in Amritsar, Tarn Taran

A high-level team of the Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) went to the Amritsar and Tarn Taran districts of Punjab during the paddy harvesting season now under way. The team was led by Dr. S.D. Attri, Member (Technical) of the Commission. Both districts are counted among the hotspots for paddy stubble burning, which is one of the chief causes of winter air pollution in the National Capital Region and the areas around it.

The review meeting

Besides visiting fields, the team held a review meeting at Amritsar on 10 October 2026 with the Deputy Commissioners and other district officials of Amritsar and Tarn Taran. The talks centred on how ready the departments and the district administration are, and how well they work together, for the in-situ use of straw inside the field and its ex-situ use outside it. The Commission pressed for timely supply of Crop Residue Management (CRM) machines to farmers, along with awareness drives and Information, Education and Communication work.

What the districts reported

Field visits were made on 9 and 10 October 2026 to selected hotspot villages and facilities. In Amritsar, officials reported on harvesting and procurement and on the deployment of CRM machinery. Balers from Amritsar and nearby districts are collecting paddy straw, and a supply chain has been built with industries that run boilers, with farmers and aggregators linked to them for ex-situ use. The district has set up a Control Room and Help Desk at the District Administrative Complex to find farmers who need machines, and a district helpline for reporting fires. In Tarn Taran, officials said the district had largely met its targets on procurement and availability of CRM machinery, and described field patrolling and surveillance through Nodal and Cluster Officers.

Flying Squads across Punjab

As part of its monitoring machinery, the Commission has deployed Flying Squads in 18 districts of Punjab for the period from 1 October to 30 November 2026. The districts are Sangrur, Tarn Taran, Firozpur, Muktsar, Bathinda, Amritsar, Moga, Mansa, Fazilka, Patiala, Ludhiana, Kapurthala, Faridkot, Barnala, Malerkotla, Gurdaspur, Jalandhar and Fatehgarh Sahib. CAQM also asked for low-cost sensors and other monitoring methods to be used without a lapse in hotspots, and for closer coordination among farmers, aggregators and industries so that the ex-situ supply chain, balers, control rooms and field staff are used to the full.