Haryana to add 23 air quality monitoring stations in NCR, eliminate legacy waste in 11 months

Haryana to add 23 air quality monitoring stations in NCR, eliminate legacy waste in 11 months

Chandigarh, Haryana government will set up 23 additional air quality monitoring stations in the NCR, increasing the total from 29 to 52 by July this year.

Haryana to add 23 air quality monitoring stations in NCR, eliminate legacy waste in 11 months

The state will also introduce an aggregator policy to regulate transport services and eliminate legacy solid waste within the next 11 months, an official statement said on Friday.

Haryana Chief Secretary Anurag Rastogi chaired a review meeting on air quality management in the NCR on Friday, and directed all departments to strictly adhere to timelines, stressing that sustained coordination across sectors is essential for long-term improvement in air quality.

Rastogi directed commissioners of municipal corporations in the NCR areas, as well as the Gurugram, Faridabad and Sonipat Metropolitan Development Authorities, to identify key roads at least five in each jurisdiction for development or redevelopment as model dust-free stretches.

Emphasising tackling emissions from transport, construction and demolition activities, and industries through precise planning, he asked them to prepare comprehensive plans with clear timelines for all milestones, from Detailed Project Report preparation to completion, for this year.

Haryana Pollution Control Board Chairman J Ganesan said that the state is expanding its air quality monitoring network from 29 to 52 stations by July this year, with tenders to be floated in the first week of May.

Another HPCB official added that out of 889 industries directed to install Continuous Emission Monitoring Systems , 871 have already complied, and 735 are actively sharing data.

All large and medium industries have been directed to upgrade pollution control equipment by July-end, while small-scale industries by September-end, Kumar said.

Since 2016, the cases of stubble burning have declined by over 90 per cent, Director Agriculture Rajnarayan said, adding that a gap of 13,000 Crop Residue Management machines has been identified and will be addressed before the upcoming paddy harvesting season.

The chief secretary also reviewed the City Action Plans for 2026 of the seven Municipal Corporations in NCR.

Additional Chief Secretary, Environment, Forests and Wildlife, Sudhir Rajpal, stressed the need for rigorous checking of vehicular pollution across the region.

Stressing the strengthening of enforcement of pollution norms and intensifying checking drives, particularly on heavily trafficked corridors, Rajpal highlighted the need to adopt cutting-edge technology to monitor emissions from moving vehicles and issue challans accordingly.

The chief secretary directed the Transport Department to collate data from Pollution Under Control centres, including the number of cases with refused certificates, and vehicles exceeding prescribed emission norms.

Transport Department Principal Secretary Raja Shekhar Vundru said the department will soon introduce an aggregator policy to regulate cab and ride-sharing services in the state, aiming to bring a large fleet of privately operated vehicles under a structured regulatory framework.

In compliance with directions of the Commission for Air Quality Management , diesel auto-rickshaws have nearly been phased out from major NCR districts as per timelines, and in the remaining NCR areas, they will be phased out by December 31 this year, he said.

Vundru also spoke over the Naya Safar Yojana, which phases out over 1.9 lakh old trucks and 16,000 buses, replacing them with cleaner BS-VI, CNG and electric vehicles through financial incentives.

According to the statement. the legacy solid waste will be eliminated by March 31, 2027.

Both short-term and long-term measures have been outlined to address road dust, construction and demolition emissions, traffic congestion, air quality monitoring, last-mile connectivity, road paving, greening initiatives, expansion of electric buses and charging infrastructure, and augmentation of parking facilities, the statement said.

Municipal Corporations have prepared plans for establishing construction and demolition waste processing facilities and secondary collection points. Each 25 sq km grid in NCR municipal areas will have one such collection point, the statement said.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.