Key facts
- Punjab formed 750-member force in 67 rapid-response units, Silwat Saeed said.
- Department received 679 field fire reports in one 24-hour period and extinguished 650, it said.
- Farmers caught burning stubble face fines of 15,000 Pakistani rupees ($54) per acre, Muhammad Farooq said.
- Those who fail to pay can face prosecution and up to six months in jail, Farooq said.
- Government distributed more than 10,000 subsidized super seeders, paying 60% of the cost.
- Abdullah Nayyar said smog-related throat hospitalizations last month were 69% of October 2025's level.
Pakistani authorities in Punjab are widening a crackdown on illegal stubble burning, which they say fuels the region's annual pollution crisis, Reuters reported on November 14, 2026. On Thursday, officers of a new quick-response unit brought a paddy field fire on the edge of Lahore under control within minutes, keeping it from adding to haze over a city that Swiss group IQAir rated "very unhealthy" earlier in the week.
Silwat Saeed, chief of the Environment Protection and Climate Change Department in Pakistan's Punjab, said the government this year formed a 750-member force in 67 rapid-response units across major rice-growing districts. Teams aim to reach reported field fires within 10 to 15 minutes, and officials also patrol paddy areas, said Ashfaq Hussain, a deputy director of the force. "We receive complaints through multiple channels and respond to them in the shortest possible time," Hussain said.
In a single 24-hour period this week, the department received 679 field fire reports from across Punjab and said it extinguished 650 of them. Violators face fines, arrest or both: farmers caught burning stubble face fines of 15,000 Pakistani rupees ($54) per acre, said Muhammad Farooq, an assistant director of the Punjab Agriculture Department. Those who fail to pay can also face prosecution and a possible jail term of up to six months. The government has also distributed more than 10,000 subsidized super seeders, paying 60% of their cost while farmers pay the remaining 40%.
Satellites have detected less burned area in India and Pakistan than the historical average at this point in the year, even as many locals in Pakistan say they struggle to notice improvements. Muhammad Ismail, who farms 50 acres, said switching to a subsidized super seeder and other machinery had significantly boosted his wheat yield per acre. Saleem Abbas, another farmer who has shifted away from burning, said many still favor the practice because it is widely regarded as the cheapest and fastest way to clear fields.