Pollution tracking fails in Haryana: 20 of 32 air monitors go offline amid smog surge

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Haryana’s pollution monitoring network suffered a major setback on Wednesday, with 20 of its 32 stations — including three in Gurugram — going offline, distorting air quality data at a time when accurate tracking is crucial, The Times of India reported.

As a result, authorities were unable to determine the nature of the haze blanketing the city, with official data showing an AQI of 150 (moderate) — a figure based solely on readings from the only operational station at Vikas Sadan.

Officials from the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) were quoted by the newspaper as saying that the other three stations, located at Gwalpahari, Teri Gram and Sector 51, were offline due to technical snags and delayed calibration.

As per the report, the same situation was reported in Faridabad, Hisar, Panchkula, Rohtak, and several other locations, where outages disrupted real-time pollution tracking just as stubble burning and shifting weather patterns were driving up particulate levels.

Shubhansh Tiwari, a research associate at Centre for Science and Environment, told TOI, "Industrial belts and traffic corridors are missing from the data. Despite AQI in Gurgaon hovering between 150 and 180 over the past week, labelled as "moderate", residents have reported experiencing smog, eye irritation and breathlessness."

HSPCB officials said repair work is underway but did not specify when the monitoring stations would become fully operational.

Manoj Kumar, an analyst at Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), was quoted by TOI as saying that calibration and maintenance should be done well before the pollution season, not during it.

"Renewed failure of AQI monitoring stations undermines public confidence in air quality data. When monitors go offline during high-pollution episodes, we lose the evidence base for any future policy evaluation," he added.

Last winter, multiple NCR monitoring stations went offline during the peak smog months, casting doubt on the reliability of the network and the state’s readiness to track pollution in real time.