Chandigarh, Nov. 9 -- Close to 7,000 FIRs were registered against farmers burning paddy stubble in Punjab between 2022 and 2024, but there has hardly been any action with most cases yet to result in a chargesheet, wound up after nominal fines or quietly closed under pressure from farmer unions, according to police records senior officials in multiple hot spot districts.

In 2024, Punjab registered 5,783 FIRs for farm fires, compared to 1,144 in 2023 and 44 in 2022. This year, 972 FIRs have been registered through November 4. The police cases are part of a crackdown on a practice that is known to bathe much of north India in toxic smog through late October and most of November, sending air pollution levels into health emergency levels for ...