Haryana cities continue to be missing from CPCB bulletins

Haryana’s cities continue to remain absent, due to insufficient data, from the daily air quality index (AQI) bulletins of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) that share daily readings of the air quality in different cities.

There are 25 stations of Haryana on the CPCB chart for daily monitoring. As per the bulletin released on July 20, of the total 25, as many as 24 including Ambala, Bahadurgarh, Ballabgarh, Bhiwani, Charkhi Dadri, Dharuhera, Fatehabad, Gurugram, Hisar, Jind, Kaithal, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Mandikhera, Manesar, Narnaul, Palwal, Panipat, Sirsa, Sonepat and Yamunanagar were missing due to insufficient data.

Meanwhile, the air quality of Panchgaon was recorded to be good.

As per the information available, the tender of the agency responsible for maintaining and operating the Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring System (CAAQMS) had expired in February last year. But the agency kept working on the commitment given that the tender would be renewed soon, but it didn’t happen. After the payments got stuck, the agency stopped working and the data is being not being delivered. The data of some of the cities is not available since December last year.

On the condition of anonymity, an official in the Haryana State Pollution Control Board said the tenders for the maintenance and operations of CAAQMS were not floated in time. As a result, the data of Haryana’s cities was not being displayed in the daily bulletin of the CPCB. Even though the officials concerned were aware that the tenders were expiring, not much attention was paid. With no data for the cities since December last year and January, the board will face issues in comparing the data of previous years. Appropriate action should be initiated for the lapse, he said.

Dr Naresh Bhardwaj, executive member of NGO Green Earth, said, “The daily monitoring of air quality is important not only in the paddy harvesting season, when the air quality deteriorates due to burning of paddy residue, but also around the year as it plays an important role in planning. It is a big lapse and the government and the state pollution control board must ensure that the live data is captured and shared with the CPCB. We will also take up the issue with the government and the NGT.”

Meanwhile, Nirmal Kashyap, senior environmental engineer (SEE) at Haryana State Pollution Control Board, said, “The board is on the job and tenders have been floated to invite interested agencies for the operations and maintenance. As soon as the tenders are allotted, the issue will be resolved.”

Haryana Tribune