Chandigarh, Jul 29 (PTI) The Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) on Tuesday said the tender process for maintenance contract of air quality monitoring stations is currently on and added it is expected to be finalised in the coming weeks.
“The Board utilizes manual stations also (in addition to automated ones) to provide data, which we are doing,” said HSPCB Member Secretary Pradeep Dagar when asked that all 29 air quality monitoring stations in Haryana have been offline since April this year as the maintenance contract with the previous firm had lapsed.
“The tender process is on and we are expecting it will be finalised in the coming weeks,” he said.
When 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.” Earlier in May, a tender had drawn a single bidder, which did not qualify under the government rules as competitive selection requires at least two bidders.
The data is used by the HSPCB and the Central Pollution Control Board to issue daily pollution bulletins.
“We are hoping that it will be finalised in the coming weeks,” said the HSPCB member secretary, indicating that the process should be over before the October-November period when pollution levels peak due to various factors, including smog. PTI SUN VSD AS AS
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