The Punjab Pollution Control Board has stated the state has recorded 4,585 farm fires this season which was 1,631 the same time last year. And that of Haryana is around 1,200 incidents till 16 October last year to 2,016 this year. The stubble burning incidents in the states of Punjab and Haryana have recorded more this season when compared to that of last year. The Stubble burning is largely due to the early harvesting of paddy and unavailability of labour force due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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Karunesh Garg, Member Secretary of the Punjab Pollution Control Board, says around 17 lakh metric tonnes of paddy was harvested till 15 October last year. This year, the number is around 40 lakh metric tonnes. It shows that farmers harvested their crop early this year and this mainly leads to stubble burning. The air pollution in the National capital hit very low owing that Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar had asked Punjab to control stubble burning. However, Garg said it was wrong to blame Punjab for Delhi's bad air. He asserts it may be a factor but it is not fully responsible, because the contibution is less than one percent. Whereas, in Haryana the unavailability of farm labour due to the COVID-19 pandemic is the reason for increased farm fire. 

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The  Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) Member secretary Prashant Gargava hoped the number of stubble burning incidents will be fewer this year compared to 2019. He also said due to early harvesting of paddy the stubble burning peak might not coincide with the peak of adverse meteorological conditions this year.  

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