World Bank Clears $300-m plan to drive Haryana’s clean-air transition

Haryana is set for its most ambitious clean-air overhaul yet, with the World Bank approving a $300-million programme that targets pollution from transport, industry and agriculture, particularly paddy stubble burning that chokes the state every winter.

The project is part of a wider Regional Air Quality Management Programme for the Indo-Gangetic Plains and Himalayan foothills. While a parallel $299.66-million programme has been approved for Uttar Pradesh, the Haryana project carries a longer 23.5-year maturity with a six-year grace period, reflecting its broader focus on structural and long-term air-quality reforms.

The Haryana Clean Air Project for Sustainable Development will support the state’s multi-sector Action Plan and strengthen its pollution monitoring systems. The project aims to benefit the NCR districts of Gurugram, Faridabad and Sonepat, which consistently feature among the country’s worst-performing urban centres on key air-quality indices.

Officials said the project will finance electric bus services, e-three-wheelers and urban mobility systems designed to improve last-mile connectivity and expand access to jobs, especially for women commuters. It will also help MSMEs shift to cleaner industrial technologies and encourage farmers to adopt equipment for managing crop residue, a major source of winter smog.

Recognising the scale of the crisis, Haryana has created a special purpose vehicle, ARJUN, to coordinate implementation across departments. “By targeting emissions in transport, agriculture, industry and urban development, the programme is designed to cut pollution at source and mobilise over $127 million in private capital,” said task team leaders Sharlene Chichgar, Laghu Parashar and Saumya Srivastava.

The World Bank described Haryana’s intervention as one of India’s first airshed-based clean-air initiatives.