📷 Image: Wikimedia Commons / John Rostron
Agriculture
CAQM Deploys Flying Squads to Monitor Stubble Burning in Punjab, Haryana
✍️ Business Today
🗓 05 Oct 2026, 09:02 PM
👁 10
The Central Air Quality Management (CAQM) has sent aerial monitoring teams to Punjab and Haryana to curb stubble burning that is worsening Delhi‑NCR’s winter haze.
New Delhi’s Central Air Quality Management (CAQM) has launched a special operation to curb stubble burning in the neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana. Flying squads equipped with drones and real‑time air‑quality sensors have been deployed to patrol agricultural fields during the peak burning window of the winter season.
The move comes as Delhi‑NCR grapples with a sharp rise in particulate matter levels, a situation officials attribute largely to the open‑air combustion of crop residues after the wheat harvest. By monitoring hotspots from the air, CAQM aims to provide immediate data to state enforcement agencies, enabling quicker action against violators.
CAQM officials said the squads will work in coordination with the Punjab and Haryana agricultural departments and local police. The collected data will feed into the national air‑quality monitoring network, helping authorities issue timely health advisories and assess the effectiveness of the intervention.
The move comes as Delhi‑NCR grapples with a sharp rise in particulate matter levels, a situation officials attribute largely to the open‑air combustion of crop residues after the wheat harvest. By monitoring hotspots from the air, CAQM aims to provide immediate data to state enforcement agencies, enabling quicker action against violators.
CAQM officials said the squads will work in coordination with the Punjab and Haryana agricultural departments and local police. The collected data will feed into the national air‑quality monitoring network, helping authorities issue timely health advisories and assess the effectiveness of the intervention.