75% of G’gram, Faridabad units yet to set up pollution control devices

While residents of the twin NCR cities of Gurugram and Faridabad are up in arms over poor air quality, over 75 per cent of industries here have failed to install pollution control devices despite being mandated to do so.

In October, the industries had been directed to install air pollution control devices (APCDs) on their premises by December 31, 2025. The orders were issued by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). Seeing poor compliance, the deadline has now been pushed to January 31.

A review by Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) last week highlighted that the majority had failed to obey the orders. Among these industries, the most at fault are of food processing, metal and textile. The majority of these are concentrated in Manesar in Gurugram and NIT in Faridabad, which record the poorest air quality on the majority of days.

While the Pollution Control Board refused to officially release the exact number of industries, highly placed officials revealed that over 200 units were under the scanner.

The devices are meant to measure suspended particulate matter (SPM), sulphur oxides (SOx) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) to prevent gaseous and solid pollutants from entering the atmosphere out of the industrial stacks.

Calling monitoring the key to the solution, industries were to be connected to the online continuous emission monitoring system (OCEMS), a digital system that automatically syncs and transmits live emission data from the industry to the CPCB/SPCB servers through an online portal.

Once the devices are installed, the vigilance teams will no longer need to take samples from industries to detect violations. One system costs around Rs 4-6 lakh. It can be purchased via the sanctioned manufacturers empanelled by the National Productivity Council (NPC) under CPCB guidelines.

According to HSPCB officials of Gurugram, the industrial units were sensitised and notified in advance by the regional HSPCB teams on the recent CPCB directions on OCEMS certification and APCD vendor empanelment through the National Productivity Council (NPC).

As per the CPCB directives issued on November 1 and November 10, 2025, the industrial units failing to register themselves on OCEMS may face temporary suspensions. On Friday evening, the CPCB’s OCEMS portal showed emission records of 157 industrial units across 17 categories and sectors in Gurugram.