The Haryana Cabinet, which met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister, Sh. Nayab Singh Saini here today, approved the Haryana Clean Air Project for Sustainable Development for the period spanning from the financial year 2024-25 to 2029-30. The project aims to improve air quality and reduce emissions across the Indo-Gangetic Plain, a region that spans multiple state boundaries.
The Haryana Clean Air Project for Sustainable Development (HCAPSD) is a Haryana government initiative supported by the World Bank. The total proposed budget for the project is Rs 3,647 crore. The project will be financed through the World Bank’s Program for Results (PforR) mechanism.
The project will support the strengthening of air quality management systems in the state, while synergizing efforts being undertaken by the Government of India. It will focus on designing and implementing sector-specific air pollution abatement measures and facilitating coordination among Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) states to reduce cross-border emissions. Additionally, the project aims to enhance the 'ease of living' for citizens across Haryana's cities.
The potential benefits of the project include supporting the piloting and scaling up of state-of-the-art pollution control technologies, which could serve as a model for the rest of India. It will also enable air-shed management through the expansion of the air quality monitoring network, capturing statewide sources of pollution, and the development of a state-level emission inventory.
The project is expected to lead to improved air quality in Haryana through emission reductions and positive spillover effects. The Haryana Clean Air Project for Sustainable Development is a multi-sector initiative led by the Department of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, in collaboration with the Haryana Pollution Control Board.
The Haryana Clean Air Project for Sustainable Development will be jointly implemented by various departments, including Departments of Environment and Climate Change, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Transport, Industries and Commerce, Directorate of Urban Local Bodies, Town and Country Planning, Haryana State Industrial and infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC), Haryana Pollution Control Board, Rural Development , Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Development and Panchayats , Food and Civil Supplies , Gurugram Metropolitan City Bus Limited, Faridabad Metropolitan City Bus Limited, Haryana City Bus Service Limited and Directorate of MSME.
The Haryana Clean Air Project for Sustainable Development will have a three-tier governing structure to review and monitor the progress of the project. In the top tier, the Governing Committee chaired by the Chief Secretary, will review the progress of the project on a quarterly basis. In the second tier, the steering committee will be led by the Additional Chief Secretary, Environment, with directors of implementing departments as members.
The steering committee will review progress under the project on a monthly basis. The Haryana Clean Air Project for Sustainable Development Implementation Cell (HCAPSD cell) will be created to drive the implementation of the project as the third tier. The cell will be headed by the Project Director, that is Member Secretary, Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB), or by any other officer appointed by the government.
For effective and timely implementation of the project the Chief Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Sh. Rajesh Khullar will review the progress of the project from time to time. An additional Project Director will be an HCS rank officer or any other officer appointed by the government for the day to-day implementation of initiatives.
For the implementation of sector wise initiatives, the HCAPSD Implementation Cell will coordinate with the concerned deputy coordinating officers of the designated departments. The Department of Environment will hire a full-time program management unit (PMU) to support all departments in driving the implementation of the project.
In addition to the above, a state-wide fellowship program will be rolled out and 24 'Clean Air Ambassadors (one each in all districts and two each in Gurugram and Faridabad) will be onboarded to create capacity at the district level to drive project implementation.
Haryana is surrounded by Uttar Pradesh in the east, Punjab in the west, Himachal Pradesh in the north, and Rajasthan in the south. It is one of the states in the Indo Gangetic Plain that comprises Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, NCT of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal.