The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has deployed flying squads across 34 districts in Punjab and Haryana as it intensifies field-level surveillance to prevent paddy stubble burning during the harvesting season, a major contributor to the episodic deterioration of air quality across the northern plains.
The squads will remain deployed through October and November, covering 18 districts in Punjab and 16 in Haryana. The deployment has been planned in successive phases to maintain surveillance throughout the paddy harvesting period rather than concentrating enforcement efforts within a short window.
Ground-level monitoring
According to the CAQM, the flying squads will assess the situation in their allocated districts and work closely with district administrations, enforcement authorities and other field-level stakeholders responsible for preventing and controlling paddy residue burning.
“The flying squads will assess the ground-level situation in their respective allocated districts and coordinate closely with the concerned authorities and field-level stakeholders for prevention and control of paddy stubble burning,” the commission said.
The teams are expected to provide the CAQM with a direct assessment of implementation on the ground, including whether preventive measures are reaching farmers and whether authorities are responding quickly when fire incidents are detected.
18 Punjab districts covered
In Punjab, the deployment covers Sangrur, Tarn Taran, Firozpur, Muktsar, Bathinda, Amritsar, Moga, Mansa, Fazilka, Patiala, Ludhiana, Kapurthala, Faridkot, Barnala, Malerkotla, Gurdaspur, Jalandhar and Fatehgarh Sahib.
Several of these districts are among Punjab’s major paddy-producing areas and have historically accounted for a substantial share of the state’s seasonal crop-residue fires. The period immediately after the paddy harvest is considered particularly critical because farmers have a narrow window to clear fields before sowing wheat.
The CAQM’s phased deployment is intended to follow harvesting patterns across districts, allowing surveillance resources to be concentrated where the risk of fires is highest at a particular point in the season.
16 Haryana districts
In Haryana, flying squads will operate in Jind, Fatehabad, Hisar, Kaithal, Sonipat, Rohtak, Sirsa, Karnal, Palwal, Jhajjar, Kurukshetra, Ambala, Yamunanagar, Faridabad, Panipat and Hansi.
The commission said the strengthened field mechanism was designed to enable timely assessment, closer coordination among enforcement agencies and rapid preventive action. This places emphasis not merely on identifying fires after they occur but on intervening before crop residue is set ablaze.
The squads are expected to coordinate with state authorities already implementing crop-residue management plans, including the deployment of machinery for in-situ and ex-situ management of paddy straw.
Critical two-month window
October and November constitute the most closely watched period for farm fires in Punjab and Haryana because paddy harvesting overlaps with preparations for the winter wheat crop. Farmers often have only a few weeks between harvesting one crop and sowing the next.
Burning paddy residue offers a quick and inexpensive method of clearing fields, but the smoke can add significantly to particulate pollution across the region when meteorological conditions are unfavourable. Its contribution to Delhi’s pollution varies sharply from day to day depending on the number and intensity of fires, wind direction, ventilation and other atmospheric conditions.
Stubble burning is therefore one of several factors behind the deterioration of Delhi-NCR’s winter air, alongside road transport, construction and demolition dust, industries, waste burning and other local and regional emission sources.
Prevention over firefighting
The CAQM has increasingly focused on preventing fires through district-level action plans rather than relying solely on penalties after burning has taken place. Measures include mapping vulnerable villages, identifying farmers and fields considered at higher risk, making crop-residue management machinery available and developing markets for paddy straw.
Ex-situ management involves collecting residue and using it for purposes such as biomass energy, compressed biogas, industrial fuel and other applications. In-situ solutions allow farmers to manage residue within the field using specialised machinery and decomposition techniques.
Effective implementation, however, depends heavily on availability of machinery at the required time, transportation and storage of straw, viable demand for crop residue and coordination between farmers, local administrations and industries.
Air pollution battle
The latest deployment comes as authorities prepare for the seasonal deterioration in air quality across Delhi-NCR. The CAQM is responsible for coordinating air-pollution control measures across the National Capital Region and adjoining areas, allowing it to work with multiple state governments on sources that cross administrative boundaries.
Its flying squads provide an additional layer of oversight over state and district machinery during the crop-burning season. Their findings can also help identify districts where preventive arrangements are inadequate and where authorities need to intensify intervention.
“The strengthened field-level mechanism is aimed at ensuring timely assessment of on-ground situation, close coordination among enforcement agencies and prompt preventive action to tackle stubble burning incidents during the harvesting season,” the commission said.
With teams now positioned across 34 districts, the effectiveness of the strategy will depend on how quickly authorities can translate field intelligence into intervention. The October-November period will provide the key test of whether closer monitoring, machinery support and alternative uses for paddy straw can further reduce farm fires before winter pollution conditions intensify across north India.