Bathinda : Punjab reported 25 farm fires on Monday, taking its tally for the ongoing paddy harvesting season to 368, just two short of Madhya Pradesh ’s 370.




The state has registered 22 FIRs, made red entries in land records in 57 cases and issued notices to 94 nodal and supervisory officers amid stepped-up enforcement.




Punjab’s tally is the second highest among seven states, followed by Rajasthan with 197 cases, Uttar Pradesh 175, Uttarakhand 51, Haryana nine and Delhi one. The total across the seven states reached 1,171 by Oct 19.




While Punjab reported 25 fires on Monday, Uttar Pradesh recorded 27, Rajasthan 24, Uttarakhand 18 and Madhya Pradesh four. Punjab had reported 123 farm fires on Sunday, its highest single-day count of the season.




Border districts Tarn Taran and Amritsar remain the biggest hotspots, with 180 and 115 cases respectively — the highest tallies among districts across the seven states.




Of the 22 FIRs registered under Section 223 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for disobedience of a public servant’s order, 14 were in Tarn Taran, three in Amritsar, two in Gurdaspur and one each in Ferozepur, Sangrur and Patiala.




Environmental compensation of Rs 4.1 lakh was imposed in 80 cases, of which Rs 1.95 lakh was recovered. Red entries were made in 57 cases, including 39 in Tarn Taran and nine in Amritsar. According to the Consortium for Research on Agroecosystem Monitoring and Modelling from Space (CREAMS), farm fires have been reported in 121 districts, including 18 in Punjab.