Haryana Environment Minister Rao Narbir Singh has conceded that the Air Quality Index (AQI) machines across the state are displaying inaccurate data. This admission follows months of concerns raised by opposition leaders and environmental activists regarding the reliability of air quality monitoring in the region.
The issue gained prominence when Congress MLA Aditya Surjewala highlighted the "dangerously bad" AQI levels in 24 cities within Haryana's National Capital Region (NCR). Surjewala also pointed out a significant lapse in data collection and reporting, with a substantial number of monitored cities failing to capture sufficient pollution metrics. According to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), over 80% of winter monitoring days yielded no usable data in 21 of these 24 cities, effectively concealing the true extent of pollution and hindering the implementation of effective remedial strategies.
Adding to the complexity, senior officials from the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) revealed that the data collection contract had expired in February 2025, though many stations had already stopped reporting data as early as December 2024. The government's delay in expediting a new tender led to critical data gaps, raising concerns about the state's ability to accurately assess and address air pollution.
Contributing to the problem was red tape within the Haryana government, which caused most weather stations in the state to go offline during peak pollution months, resulting in a crucial loss of AQI data. A contractual lapse in May 2025 exacerbated the crisis, as the government was slow to initiate the process of finding a new agency to manage the monitoring stations. The previous contract, awarded to Envea India in 2020, had expired, leading to the shutdown of all monitoring stations in the state. The Supplies and Disposals Department only began the tendering process for a new contract after the previous one had lapsed. The tendering process was further delayed when only Envea India bid for the new contract, prompting the government to restart the process in September. As a stopgap measure, the Haryana government issued a temporary contract to Envea India until January 2026 and enlisted another firm, Axis Nano, to manage stations in Gurugram and Faridabad.
Adding to the confusion, after being restored to service, many air quality monitoring stations experienced technical glitches. In cities such as Gurugram, Faridabad, Karnal, Ambala, and Charkhi Dadri, a significant number of the continuous ambient air quality monitoring systems (CAAQMS) malfunctioned shortly after being reactivated.
The situation has deteriorated to the point where Haryana's cities are frequently absent from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) bulletins due to insufficient data. Out of 25 stations in Haryana on the CPCB chart, 24, including major urban centers, were missing from a July 2025 bulletin due to a lack of data. An anonymous HSPCB official stated that tenders for the maintenance and operation of CAAQMS were not floated in time, resulting in the absence of Haryana's data in the CPCB's daily bulletin. The official also noted that this lapse would create challenges in comparing data with previous years and called for appropriate action to be taken.
While Minister Singh has acknowledged the issue and the government has taken some steps to address it, the persistent problems with Haryana's air quality monitoring infrastructure raise serious questions about the accuracy and reliability of the data being used to inform policy decisions and protect public health.
