Some cities in the State are experiencing alarming levels of air pollution. According to the latest available data with Haryana State Pollution Control Board, some cities have high concentration of PM 10- (particulate matters with diameter of 10 microns or less) and PM2.5 (particulate matters less than 2.5 microns)-form of air pollution, which can cause severe health problems.
Despite implementation of stringent laws aimed at improving air quality and State climate change action plan, which focuses to combat pollution already put in place, a large number of people in the State are still at risk of being exposed to toxic air.
As per the data, the major cities of Haryana including Faridabad, Gurgaon, Sonepat, Panipat, Panchkula, Yamunanagar have high concentration of PM10 —particulate matters of the size of 10 micrograms — form of pollution in cities. The permissible limit of PM 10 exceeds in all these cities except Gurgaon.
The data suggests that the PM 10 concentration which was recorded 133.90 µg/m3 in 2012 increased to 143.22 µg/m3 (annual average so far) this year in Faridabad. Similarly, the PM 10 concentration in Sonepat’s air soared to 388.20 µg/m3 this year from 147.84 µg/m3 last year, 83.32 µg/m3 recorded in 2013 and 70.76 µg/m3 in 2012.
Panipat’s air has PM 10 concentrations of 135 µg/m3 which was 117.49 µg/m3 in the year 2013 which exceeds the permissible limit of 60 µg/m3. Yamunanagar recorded PM 10 concentration of 103.40 µg/m3 while Panchkula recorded 101.19 µg/m3 (last month as per 24 hours average).
The World Health Organisation guideline values for particulate matter are 20 µg/m3 for PM10, and 10 µg/m3 for PM2.5, respectively
According to the information, Faridabad and Gurgaon have high concentration of PM2.5 - particulate matters less than 2.5 microns - form of air pollution, which is considered the most serious.
The latest data has found that Faridabad's air had PM2.5 concentrations of 73 µg/m3 on September 12 (24 hours average) and Gurgaon recorded 71.36 µg/m3 on the same day.
The nitrogen dioxide levels in Faridabad were found to be 32.99, sulphur dioxide stood at 4.50 microgram per cubic meter, which was below the permissible limit. The nitrogen dioxide levels in Panipat were at 39.58 µg/m3 and it was 26.44 µg/m3 in Sonepat this year (annual average readings).
The presence of pollutants in air beyond a certain limits has a detrimental effect on the human health as well as animals. Besides, it also has adverse effect on vegetation.
As per the Haryana State Pollution Control Board report, the major sources of suspended particulate matter (SPM) pollutants in the ambient air in the state are vehicular emission, road dust, garbage and waste burning, construction dust etc which contribute about 70 percent of total air pollution and the rest is contributed by industrial air emissions.
For monitoring the ambient air quality, the HSPCB has installed four continuous ambient quality monitoring stations (CAAQMS) in the cities of Faridabad, Gurgaon, Rohtak and Panchkula. Three more such monitoring stations would be installed at Sonepat, Panipat and Dharuhera in Rewari as per HSPCB plans.
The cities of Faridabad, Gurgaon, Sonepat, Panipat and Yamunagar are major industrial hub of the state having hectic industrial as well as commercial activities and heavy vehicular movement.
Notably, the National Green Tribunal in its recent orders had came down heavily on Haryana Government and neighboring states of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh for not complying with its 2014 order on tackling pollution and had banned diesel vehicles that are over 10 years old from the national capital and NCR in a move to curtail hazardous automobile emissions.
With 13 districts of Haryana included in National Capital Region, 57 percent area of the state falls in the NCR. The districts namely Gurgaon, Rewari, Faridabad, Palwal, Mewat, Rohtak, Sonipat, Panipat, Jhajjar, Mahendergarh, Bhiwani, Karnal and Jind are included in national capital region (NCR).