With major cities in Haryana falling into the grip of multi-pollutant crisis, the State Government has decided to install continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations at 19 locations to regularly monitor and analyse the deteriorating air quality.
The Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) has proposed to install continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations (CAAQMS) at 19 locations namely Dharuhera (Rewari), Sonepat, Panipat, Bahadurgarh (Jhajjar), Karnal, Kaithal, Yamunanagar, Manesar (Gurugram), Faridabad (Sector 55/56), Ambala, Bhiwani, Fatehabad, Hisar, Jind, Kurukshetra, Mahendragarh, Mewat, Palwal and Sirsa.
At present, the State has only four such stations at Faridabad, Gurugram, Rohtak and Panchkula to monitor air quality.
The installation of 19 CAAQMS will strengthen the real time ambient air quality data generation and will assist the State authorities to analyze the data and accordingly, formulate measures to improve the air quality.
The continuous ambient air quality monitoring system will observe parameters including Sulphur dioxide (SO2), Nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ammonia (NH3), ground level ozone (O3), carbon monoxide (CO), benzene, subtypes of atmospheric particle matter including suspended particulate matter (SPM), respirable suspended particle (RSP particles with diameter of 10 micrometres or less i.e. PM10), fine particles (diameter of 2.5 micrometres or less i.e PM2.5) in real-time.
“The Board will install the air quality monitoring stations at 19 locations in the state during this year. Nine such stations would be installed in state’s districts falling in national capital region,” said a senior official of Haryana State Pollution Control Board while talking to The Pioneer.
He said, “Haryana’s 13 districts in the NCR are worst affected due to the high pollution levels. The data provided by the stations will be analyzed to improve the air quality of these places.”
Tenders have already been floated for commissioning of these monitoring stations in the State, he added.
Thirteen districts of Haryana namely Gurugram, Rewari, Faridabad, Palwal, Mewat, Rohtak, Sonipat, Panipat, Jhajjar, Mahendergarh, Bhiwani, Karnal and Jind are included in the national capital region (NCR).
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, Haryana’s Faridabad and Gurugram districts in NCR continue to suffer due to air pollutants in ‘severe’ range.
Both Faridabad and Gurugram have high concentration of PM2.5 — particulate matters less than 2.5 microns — form of air pollution, which is considered the most serious.
According to the HSPCB, 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.
Many cities in the State 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, as per the HSPCB.
Notably, the thick smog hanging over northern parts of the country due to burning of crop residue in November last had caused road fatalities due to poor visibility in various parts of Haryana.