Gurgaon: Haryana’s air quality monitoring network is set for an expansion. However, only seven new continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations (CAAQMS) have been planned even as regulators have raised concerns over “a much larger gap in monitoring coverage” across the state.Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) said on Tuesday it was reviewing the augmentation of 27 new CAAQMS across Delhi-NCR, of which seven are proposed for Haryana. Haryana at present has 22 operational CAAQMS in its NCR districts. However, CAQM’s latest assessment shows that the state requires 45 monitoring stations to ensure scientifically robust and uniform air quality surveillance, indicating a shortfall of 23 stations. Many NCR stations went offline last year for several months, raising serious questions about the reliability of the monitoring network and the state’s preparedness to track pollution in real time. Of Haryana’s 32 monitoring stations, 29 operated by HSPCB went offline between late 2024 and April 2025, including three of Gurgaon’s four monitors and all stations in Faridabad, Hisar, Karnal, Rohtak and Yamunanagar. Only two stations operated by India Meteorological Department (IMD) at Gwalpahari in Gurgaon and Panchkula recorded the data. One AQI monitoring station is currently being operated by a private agency at Pachgaon. Several stations, including those in Gurgaon, were brought back online on Oct 1.CAQM said it undertook a detailed review of the scientific criteria for future expansion of the air quality monitoring network in Delhi-NCR, stressing that “monitoring density must reflect population distribution and land-use characteristics”, including residential areas, traffic corridors, industrial zones and background locations. Special emphasis was placed on urban contiguity and the rapid expansion of peri-urban and suburban regions, particularly relevant for Haryana’s fast-growing NCR towns.Under the revised norms, CAQM adopted a grid-based spatial coverage model, with one monitoring station for every 25 sqkm (5 km × 5 km grid) in major urban and contiguous NCR cities. Other district headquarters and cities would require one station per 50 sqkm. CAQM also underlined the need for background and border stations to better understand regional transport of pollutants and baseline air quality levels influencing NCR cities.Monitoring coverage in peri-urban and suburban areas was identified as critical to assess pollution inflow and outflow and to study the impact of urban sprawl on regional air quality — a growing concern in districts such as Gurgaon, Faridabad and Sonipat. Based on these criteria, CAQM assessed that 46 additional stations are required across Delhi-NCR, including 16 in Haryana (NCR). Once these are installed, the total number of CAAQMS in the region would rise to 157, with 45 stations in Haryana, 60 in Delhi, 43 in Uttar Pradesh (NCR) and 9 in Rajasthan (NCR).The commission reiterated that a dense and evenly distributed monitoring network is essential for accurate assessment, regulatory enforcement and effective air pollution mitigation across the NCR.
