Haryana presents steady gains in fight against air pollution at review meeting

Chandigarh: Haryana on Monday presented a picture of steady and wide-ranging progress in its fight against air pollution in the Delhi-NCR region, as the state’s clean air initiatives—from farm-level stubble management to electric mobility and waste remediation—came under review at a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Secretary, Anurag Rastogi.

The review, aligned with directions of the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) and the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, assessed Action Taken Reports (ATR) and finalised State and City Action Plans for 2025–26. Detailed city-specific strategies for NCR municipal corporations—Gurugram, Faridabad, Sonipat, Karnal, Panipat, Rohtak and Manesar—were discussed during the meeting.

A key highlight of the meeting was Haryana’s sustained push to curb stubble burning through large-scale adoption of Crop Residue Management (CRM) machinery. Since 2018–19, over one lakh CRM machines have been distributed to farmers on subsidy at a cost of Rs 932 crore, enabling in-situ management of paddy straw across villages. Custom Hiring Centres are being closely monitored to ensure access for small and marginal farmers.

Parallelly, ex-situ utilisation has gained momentum, with paddy straw being channelled to palletisation units, thermal power plants, brick kilns and industries. Several Compressed Biogas (CBG) plants across Jhajjar, Kurukshetra, Ambala, Fatehabad and Panipat are now operational, collectively consuming thousands of tonnes of paddy straw annually and converting agricultural waste into clean energy.

Thermal power plants within 300 km of Delhi have crossed key sustainability milestones. As of November 2025, all operational units have exceeded 6 per cent biomass co-firing, with at least 50 per cent paddy straw, barring one unit under scheduled maintenance.