CAQM Reviews Stubble Management in Amritsar, Tarn Taran

A high-level team of the Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas (CAQM), led by its chairperson Rajesh Verma, held a review meeting on 24 October 2026 with the Deputy Commissioners and other officers of the Amritsar and Tarn Taran districts of Punjab. The subject was the management of paddy stubble and the steps needed to stamp out the burning of crop residue, which is one of the sources that worsens air quality in the national capital region and the areas around it during the harvest season.

What the team examined

The officers were asked to account for the stubble handled within the field, known as in-situ management, and the stubble taken out of the field for use elsewhere, known as ex-situ management, together with the machinery and other infrastructure available in the two districts for the purpose. The Commission looked at what the two district administrations had done in the face of a rise in fire incidents, said it was concerned by that rise, and told the officers to leave nothing undone in bringing the numbers down.

Directions issued

• Stubble should be used to the fullest as fuel in thermal power plants, brick kilns and industries where such use is practicable.
• Sector-wise nodal officers must be made answerable for the actual use of stubble by their sectors and must report compliance regularly.
• Officers must visit villages and farmers often, and not merely tell them that facilities exist but see that machinery reaches them in time.
• District administrations must tie farmers, Custom Hiring Centres, machinery providers and other stakeholders together so that residue solutions are available without delay.

Tarn Taran singled out

Because Tarn Taran continues to report among the highest numbers of paddy stubble burning cases, its Deputy Commissioner was told to treat the matter as the first priority and to step up field-level work on prevention and management. The Commission warned that slackness or failure to act effectively would bring strict action and accountability. During the visit the team also saw a working example of the ex-situ route: an industrial boiler at a complex in Amritsar that runs on pellets made from paddy stubble, which showed how processed residue can be put to productive use and how such models might be scaled up. The Commission repeated that stubble has to be treated as a resource to be used rather than waste to be burnt, and that the task must be approached from the point of view of helping the farmer.