The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) in NCR has asked both Punjab and Haryana to start procuring drones for the upcoming winter harvest season to detect crop-burning incidents on a real-time basis, supplementing on-ground teams.
A pilot project was carried out in the Patiala district in May by the commission, which found visuals to be clear and accurate, allowing them to pinpoint farm fire incidents, a senior official aware of the matter said.
A detailed standard operating procedure for using drones, including how many drones need to be procured per village or district is still being formulated and will be issued soon, with initial focus to only be around crop burning hotspots in these two states, the official told HT.
“The pilot project, which was initially planned in three districts, was only carried out in Patiala in May, but was successful. We were able to use drones to get clear visuals from a good height, which can allow real-time action against those found to be burning crop residue,” the official said, stating the current challenge was a delay in getting data on crop burning.
“The satellite data submitted to us is one-day old data, as it is from the previous day. The satellites also only make around two captures in a day, during the overpass. Meanwhile, data on burnt areas is submitted to CAQM once in 15 days, so by the time we get this information, farm fires in an area will long be over. Drones meanwhile allow real-time action, by allowing teams to go and stop farmers immediately,” the official said, stating since May, through meetings, both Punjab and Haryana have been asked to start preparing to procure drones.
{{/usCountry}}“The satellite data submitted to us is one-day old data, as it is from the previous day. The satellites also only make around two captures in a day, during the overpass. Meanwhile, data on burnt areas is submitted to CAQM once in 15 days, so by the time we get this information, farm fires in an area will long be over. Drones meanwhile allow real-time action, by allowing teams to go and stop farmers immediately,” the official said, stating since May, through meetings, both Punjab and Haryana have been asked to start preparing to procure drones.
{{/usCountry}}In the rabi harvest season, CAQM, through Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI) monitored farm fire incidents between April 1 and May 31, 2026, with 9,806 farm fires recorded in Punjab and 3,398 in Haryana. In the same period last year, Punjab saw 10,207 fires, while Haryana saw 1,832 fires.
The count in both states is also worrying, since farm fires are typically higher in the winter harvest season between September 15 and November 30. Last winter, in this period, Punjab had 5,114 fires as compared to 10,909 in 2024. Haryana saw 662 farm fires last winter as compared to 1,406 in 2024.
“The increase in fires this summer is a worry and we have noticed that while farmers are using machines to remove stubble, the residue, which is barely four inches, is still being burnt as the farmer does not want to till it into the ground, in fear that it has pesticides. As part of our outreach to states, this will be another focus this winter, to make farmers more aware about such practices,” said the official, stating they are still working on the specifications and how many drones will be required by both states and who will deploy them.
“The initial plan is to use them only at farm fire hotspots in both states and gradually expand, if required,” the official added.
Last year, multiple studies revealed farmers were setting fields ablaze much later in the day – thus evading satellite captures and resulting in a lower farm-fire count. One such study, released by the environmental think-tank International Forum for Environment, Sustainability and Technology (iFOREST) in December last year, found this was true across both Punjab and Haryana, with most fires being observed after 3pm – hours where government’s monitoring systems were simply not monitoring. It also assessed the total burnt area, finding this has however reduced by 25–35%.
As part of the study, Sentinel-2 satellite’s burnt-area mapping showed the burnt cropland in Punjab fell from 31,447 sqkms in 2022 to roughly 20,000 sqkms in 2025 – a 37% reduction. In Haryana, the burnt area decreased from 11,633 sqkms in 2019 to 8,812 sqkms in 2025 – a 25% dip, the report had said.