The Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) said on Tuesday that the tender process for maintaining air quality monitoring stations is currently underway and should be finalised in the next few weeks.
When asked why all 29 air quality monitoring stations in Haryana have been offline since April this year, HSPCB member secretary Pradeep Dagar said “The board utilises manual stations also (in addition to automated ones) to provide data, which we are doing.”
"The tender process is on and we are expecting it will be finalised in the coming weeks," he said.
On being asked why finalising the firm for operation and maintenance was taking time, Dagar said, "The process took some time. In a single bid, we cannot decide under the rules. So, we have floated a tender. The tender process is on...We are holding a pre-bid meeting in which conditions will be discussed...later the matter will be approved by the high-powered committee."
In May, a tender had drawn a single bidder, which did not qualify as per the rules prescribed by the government as competitive selection requires at least two bidders.
The HSPCB and the Central Pollution Control Board data use the data to issue daily pollution bulletins.
"We are hoping that it will be finalised in the coming weeks," said the HSPCB member secretary, adding that the process should be over before the October-November period when pollution levels peak due to various factors, including smog.
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