On 3 September 2026 the Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas sent eight flying squads, with the Haryana State Pollution Control Board and district officials, into Nuh district, Haryana. They inspected 35 industrial units: 17 were non-compliant, 11 compliant (10 fully, 1 with recommendations), and 7 were closed at the time.
The violations list reads like a pollution-control textbook, and that is exactly how to use it.
The body, and why it exists
For two decades, air pollution in Delhi was policed by the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority — EPCA, a body appointed in 1998 by the Supreme Court in the long-running M.C. Mehta litigation. It had authority but no statute of its own.
The CAQM replaced it. Created first by ordinance in October 2020 and then by the Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Act, 2021, it is a statutory body with jurisdiction over the NCR and the adjoining areas of Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh where pollution sources affect the region. Its distinctive features:
- A full-time Chairperson and members drawn from the Centre, the four States, CPCB, ISRO and civil society.
- Power to issue binding directions, and — where its orders conflict with a State board's — its directions prevail.
- Penalties for non-compliance of up to five years' imprisonment and/or ₹1 crore.
The strategic logic is jurisdictional. Delhi's air is made in four States and a Union Territory; a Delhi-only authority cannot touch a brick kiln in Jhajjar or stubble in Sangrur. Nuh — a Haryana district inside the NCR — is precisely the kind of place a cross-boundary body was built to reach.
What "Consent to Operate" means
Every unit was assessed against the conditions of its Consent to Operate (CTO). Under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 and the Water Act, 1974, an industry needs a Consent to Establish before it is built and a Consent to Operate before it runs, both issued by the State Pollution Control Board and carrying conditions on emissions, stack height, fuel and control equipment. An inspection is a check of those conditions. Non-compliance means operating outside one's consent, which is itself an offence — the inspector does not need to prove harm.
The hardware the inspectors found failing
| Violation found | What the device does |
|---|---|
| Wet scrubbers defective — leaks, poor water flow | Passes flue gas through water spray or a wet packed bed; particles and soluble gases are captured in the liquid |
| Electrostatic precipitators non-functional | Gives particles an electric charge and draws them onto oppositely charged collecting plates; efficient for fine dust at low energy cost |
| Inadequate stack height for boilers and thermic fluid heaters | A taller stack disperses emissions higher and further, lowering ground-level concentration; height is prescribed by boiler capacity |
| Fugitive dust — uncovered conveyors, unpaved roads, weak windbreakers, poor sprinkling | Fugitive emissions are those not released through a stack — dust from handling, storage and traffic; controlled by enclosure, wetting and paving |
| Non-compliant DG sets | Diesel generators without required emission controls |
| Wood burning; unapproved liquid fuel in boilers | Fuel outside the approved fuel list for NCR, which restricts high-emission fuels |
The important distinction is the last-but-two row. Stack emissions are measurable at a point; fugitive emissions are diffuse. A factory can have a working ESP on its chimney and still blanket the neighbourhood in dust from an uncovered conveyor. Inspectors check both, and the Nuh findings show failures in both.
The numbers behind the alerts
Two scales govern public communication about NCR air, and both are examinable.
The Air Quality Index runs from 0 to 500 across eight pollutants — PM10, PM2.5, NO₂, SO₂, CO, O₃, NH₃ and lead — in six bands:
| AQI | Category |
|---|---|
| 0–50 | Good |
| 51–100 | Satisfactory |
| 101–200 | Moderate |
| 201–300 | Poor |
| 301–400 | Very Poor |
| 401–500 | Severe |
The Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), administered by CAQM, ties restrictions to those bands: Stage I at Poor, Stage II at Very Poor, Stage III at Severe (401–450) and Stage IV at Severe-plus (above 450), escalating from dust control through construction bans to vehicle restrictions and school closures.
Nationally, the National Clean Air Programme (2019) targets a 40% reduction in particulate matter by 2026 against a 2017 base across 131 non-attainment cities — those that failed national standards for five consecutive years.
Why this is a defence-adjacent topic
Three reasons an NDA aspirant should care beyond the exam. Visibility: severe winter air in the NCR grounds flights and hampers low-level flying at Hindon and Palam. Health of the force: cantonments in the NCR share the same air. And the institutional pattern: CAQM is a template — a statutory, cross-State authority with overriding powers, created because a problem ignored State boundaries — that recurs in questions on river basins, disasters and internal security.
🔑 Revision block
- 3 September 2026: CAQM inspection in Nuh, Haryana — 8 flying squads with HSPCB; 35 units — 17 non-compliant, 11 compliant, 7 closed.
- CAQM: ordinance October 2020, Act 2021; statutory; replaced EPCA (1998, Supreme Court, M.C. Mehta); jurisdiction — NCR + adjoining areas of Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, UP; directions override State boards; penalty up to 5 years / ₹1 crore.
- Consent to Establish / Consent to Operate — under the Air Act 1981 and Water Act 1974, issued by the SPCB.
- Wet scrubber = water capture. ESP = electric charge and collecting plates. Stack height = dispersion. Fugitive dust = emissions not from a stack.
- AQI: 8 pollutants; Poor 201–300, Very Poor 301–400, Severe 401–500.
- GRAP: Stage I Poor, II Very Poor, III Severe (401–450), IV Severe-plus (>450).
- NCAP 2019: 40% PM cut by 2026 on a 2017 base; 131 non-attainment cities.
🎯 Practice MCQs
Q1. The CAQM was established by an Act of Parliament in: (a) 2019 (b) 2020 (c) 2021 (d) 2023 → (c), after an ordinance in 2020.
Q2. The body replaced by the CAQM was the: (a) CPCB (b) EPCA (c) NGT (d) DPCC → (b) — appointed by the Supreme Court in 1998.
Q3. An electrostatic precipitator removes particulates by: (a) water spray (b) electric charge and collecting plates (c) combustion (d) filtration through cloth bags → (b).
Q4. "Fugitive emissions" are emissions that: (a) exceed the permitted limit (b) do not pass through a stack or vent (c) come from vehicles (d) occur at night → (b).
Q5. The Consent to Operate for an industry is issued by the: (a) CAQM (b) District Magistrate (c) State Pollution Control Board (d) Ministry of Environment → (c).
Q6. An AQI of 350 falls in the category: (a) Poor (b) Very Poor (c) Severe (d) Moderate → (b).
Q7. GRAP Stage IV is invoked when the AQI exceeds: (a) 300 (b) 400 (c) 450 (d) 500 → (c).
Q8. Which of the following is not among the eight AQI pollutants? (a) ammonia (b) lead (c) ozone (d) methane → (d).
Q9. The NCAP's revised target is a particulate reduction of: (a) 20% by 2024 (b) 30% by 2025 (c) 40% by 2026 (d) 50% by 2030 → (c), against 2017 levels.
Q10. Which State is not within the CAQM's jurisdiction? (a) Punjab (b) Rajasthan (c) Himachal Pradesh (d) Uttar Pradesh → (c).
Q11. Increasing a boiler's stack height primarily: (a) reduces the quantity of pollutants (b) disperses emissions and lowers ground-level concentration (c) improves fuel efficiency (d) captures particulates → (b).
Q12. The 1981 Act governing industrial air emissions is the: (a) Environment (Protection) Act (b) Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act (c) Factories Act (d) NGT Act → (b).
📋 How this gets asked (PYQ pattern)
Air-pollution questions run in four shapes. The body item — CAQM against CPCB against EPCA, with their years and statutes. The scale item — an AQI number matched to its category, or a GRAP stage matched to its trigger. The device item — how a scrubber, ESP or bag filter works, usually as a match-the-pairs. The programme item — NCAP's target year, base year and percentage.
The fresh 2026 hook is the Nuh drive's 17-of-35 result, likelier to appear as a device-identification question built on the violations list than as a data item. A statement pair on CAQM's statutory status and the working principle of an ESP is the most probable two-statement question. As always, we describe the recurring pattern, not any exact past question.
Preparing for the NDA? Environment questions are won on scales and mechanisms — one AQI table, one GRAP ladder, three control devices. Build the base with our NDA general knowledge notes and the NDA science hub, follow the daily NDA current affairs, and train with our ex-officer faculty in the upcoming Cavalier courses in Delhi.
✍️ Written by Col Vijyanat Thakur — Defence studies faculty at The Cavalier. Reviewed by the Cavalier Faculty Desk. The Cavalier, founded by ex-Army officers, has trained NDA/CDS/SSB aspirants since 2001 (Facebook · YouTube).
Source: PIB / Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, 4 September 2026. Statutory and technical details cross-verified with independent sources.