Chandigarh, Sep 25 Haryana has reduced paddy stubble-burning incidents by 91 per cent since 2021, with the state deploying 78 of the 81 mechanised road-sweeping machines required under prescribed norms, redeveloping 675 km of targeted roads, and enhancing pollution-control monitoring across 1,309 industries.
Sharing these details on Friday after attending a high-level task force meeting focused on managing air pollution in the Delhi-NCR region, Chief Secretary Anurag Rastogi highlighted the state’s multi-pronged drive to improve air quality, an official statement said.
He assured that Haryana would continue to intensify action ahead of winter, with particular emphasis on farm fires, road dust, industrial and vehicular emissions, waste burning and other major sources of particulate pollution.
The chief secretary said that Haryana was pursuing a coordinated strategy covering paddy-straw management, road dust, industrial emissions, vehicular pollution, construction and demolition waste, municipal solid waste and expansion of air-quality monitoring.
The state has achieved a 91 per cent reduction in paddy stubble-burning fire counts in 2025 compared to 2021, reflecting the effectiveness of its enforcement and crop-residue management measures.
Haryana generates approximately 7.97 million tonnes of paddy straw. The management plan aims to handle 55 per cent of this straw through in-situ methods, 33 per cent through ex-situ utilisation, and 12 per cent as fodder.
The state has procured 7,950 crop-residue management machines, with a target of 9,000 for the 2026 season. Ex-situ utilisation of paddy straw has significantly increased, reaching 1.32 million tonnes in 2023, 1.55 million tonnes in 2024, and 2.19 million tonnes in 2025, with a projection of 2.71 million tonnes in 2026.
The state plans to further strengthen surveillance by deploying about 50 drones in hotspot areas. Low-cost PM2.5 sensors are also proposed in hotspot villages, while burnt areas will be verified on the ground through an ISRO-developed mobile application, Rastogi said.
Haryana achieved 5.89 per cent biomass co-firing in thermal power plants up to August 2026, crossing the five per cent benchmark. Biomass co-firing in brick kilns in non-NCR Haryana has reached 21.9 per cent and is proposed to be increased to 30 per cent from November 1.
Rastogi emphasised that the state is also concentrating on road dust, a major source of particulate pollution in the NCR. Of the 1,162 km of roads identified for redevelopment, 675 km have already been completed, marking a 58 per cent achievement.
The state is also implementing the Road Asset Management System, with emphasis on road redevelopment, repair of potholes and damaged footpaths and better management of road infrastructure.
Haryana has deployed 78 of the 81 large and medium mechanised road-sweeping machines needed for roads wider than 10 metres, achieving 96 per cent deployment. Only three machines remain to be deployed, the chief secretary stated.
The state will also focus on smaller mechanised sweeping machines for narrower roads, litter-picking equipment and digital tracking of sweeping machines to ensure effective deployment.
Rastogi noted that industrial pollution-control measures were also being strengthened. Haryana has 1,309 industries covered in the industrial pollution-control review framework, of which 192 have been exempted or certified as having adequate arrangements.
Of the remaining 1,117 industries requiring action on air-pollution control devices, purchase orders have been placed in 383 cases.
Rastogi further informed that 3,211 active construction and demolition sites measuring more than 500 square metres in Haryana have been registered on the monitoring web portal.
At present, Haryana has 1,018 electric city buses, against an assessed requirement of 2,900, and 1,276 charging stations, against a requirement of 2,500. The state has also identified 121 traffic-congestion points and decongested 46 of them.
Haryana currently has 22 continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations, while the proposed network comprises 45 stations. Three real-time source apportionment sites have also been finalised in Haryana, at Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, and Indira Gandhi University, Rewari.
(PTI News)
