Four Haryana cities among India's most polluted as Panipat factories shut over pollution curbs

Air pollution remained a major concern across Haryana on Friday, with four cities featuring among India's 13 most polluted urban centres and seven others recording poor air quality. The deterioration came despite the enforcement of restrictions under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) across Delhi-NCR.

Ballabgarh topped the national pollution chart with an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 400. Gurugram recorded an AQI of 324, Manesar 316 and Bahadurgarh 308, placing all four cities in the very poor category.

Faridabad was close to the very poor threshold with an AQI of 298. Among the other cities reporting poor air quality, Jind recorded 261, Fatehabad 247, Bhiwani 245, Dharuhera 229, Yamunanagar 219 and Palwal 210.

The figures highlight the continuing pollution challenge in the state despite measures under GRAP, which include restrictions on older vehicles and curbs on construction activities in parts of Delhi and the National Capital Region.

Farm fires add to pollution concerns

Stubble burning continues to be another concern, with satellite monitoring data recording 229 crop-residue burning incidents in Haryana between September 15 and November 13.

According to the Consortium for Research on Agroecosystem Monitoring and Modeling from Space (CREAMS), 11,342 residue-burning events were detected across seven states and Union Territories during the period.

Punjab accounted for the highest number of incidents at 5,785, followed by Madhya Pradesh with 2,752, Rajasthan with 1,439 and Uttar Pradesh with 919. Haryana recorded 229 incidents, while Uttarakhand reported 216 and Delhi two.

On November 13 alone, satellites detected 537 farm-fire incidents across the monitored regions. Madhya Pradesh accounted for 246 cases and Punjab for 214. Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan recorded 33 incidents each, while Haryana reported 11. No farm fires were detected in Delhi or Uttarakhand that day.

The latest figures underline the contribution of crop-residue burning to the seasonal pollution burden across northern India, even as authorities continue monitoring agricultural activity and enforcing restrictions.

Over 12,000 Panipat factories shut in one-day protest

Meanwhile, more than 12,000 industrial units in Panipat remained closed on Friday as factory owners and workers staged a one-day strike against pollution-control norms and enforcement action by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

The shutdown was estimated to have caused business losses of around ₹200 crore, while approximately 1.3 lakh workers stayed away from work.

Industrialists and hundreds of workers took out a protest march from Sanjay Chowk to the district secretariat, carrying banners and raising slogans against the manner in which pollution-control regulations were being implemented. The demonstration also resulted in traffic congestion along the GT Road.

Industry representatives maintained that they were not opposed to environmental regulations but objected to the technical difficulties and costs involved in meeting the prescribed requirements. They also raised concerns over delays in installing pollution-control equipment and enforcement action against units facing technical problems.

Industrialists submit seven demands to administration

The protesting industrialists subsequently submitted a memorandum containing seven demands to the deputy commissioner at the district secretariat. The symbolic strike was called off following the submission of the memorandum.

Among the concerns raised by industry representatives were requirements linked to the Online Continuous Emission Monitoring System (OCEMS), including the prescribed level of data availability on monitoring servers. They sought a reduction in the minimum data availability requirement from 85% to 50% and an extension of the period used to calculate average data availability from seven days to 30 days.

They also sought protection from penalties when technical problems or delays were caused by authorised equipment vendors, and additional time for factories that had already ordered pollution-control devices but were awaiting their installation.

Other demands included physical inspections and an opportunity for industrial units to rectify shortcomings before closure orders were issued, simpler procedures for restarting units and a five-year exemption from making new monitoring devices mandatory.

The industrialists argued that technical failures and delays beyond the control of factory owners should not automatically invite punitive action. They called for a more practical implementation framework that would allow businesses to comply with environmental requirements without facing arbitrary disruption.

The protest has brought the challenges of enforcing pollution-control measures in one of Haryana's major industrial centres into focus, even as several cities in the state continue to record elevated pollution levels.