Bathinda: Punjab’s crop residue burning count remains nearly 1,700 times lower than the state with the highest number of cases, even as two fresh incidents were reported on Saturday, taking its total to just 10 — a figure officials attribute to slower wheat harvesting in the state.Across five states, 1,311 cases were recorded on Saturday, pushing the season’s tally past 24,000 to 24,161. Of these, the state with the highest number of cases alone accounts for 17,318 incidents — over 71% of the total so far.Data from the Consortium for Research on Agroecosystem Monitoring and Modeling From Space (CREAMS), which tracks stubble burning after paddy and wheat harvests, shows that the trend has persisted over the years. Between 2022 and April 18, 2026, the top state recorded 1,12,004 cases out of 2,22,770 total incidents, followed by Uttar Pradesh (52,794), Punjab (47,987), Haryana (9,796) and Delhi (119).The highest number of cases this season has been reported from Siddharthnagar district in Uttar Pradesh (2,717), while 34 districts across the two worst-affected states have recorded over 100 incidents each.Earlier, during the 2025 kharif season, the same state had topped stubble burning with 17,067 cases, followed by Uttar Pradesh (7,290) and Punjab (5,114).
