Haryana State Pollution Control Board

Profile narrative

The Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) is a statutory agency responsible for preventing and controlling pollution within the state of Haryana. Its core functions include issuing consent to establish and operate industrial units, granting no‑objection certificates for projects, providing hazardous waste authorisations, and processing various environmental approvals required under national legislation. The board also monitors air and water quality, enforces emission and effluent standards, and conducts inspections to ensure compliance with pollution control norms. By regulating industrial activities and managing waste, HSPCB aims to protect public health and preserve the state’s natural resources.

Operational continuity for the board is heavily reliant on its online portal, hrocmms.nic.in, which officials reported handles around ninety percent of its daily activities. The website facilitates the submission and tracking of applications, the dissemination of regulatory notices, and the coordination of field inspections across the state’s industrial clusters. When the portal became inaccessible for four days in February 2025, the disruption halted consent processing and threatened to allow unregulated industrial operations, underscoring the system’s central role in the board’s service delivery. The incident prompted coordination with the National Informatics Centre and a complaint to the Haryana Police cyber cell to determine whether the outage resulted from a technical fault or a cyber attack.

HSPCB distinguishes itself as a specialised environmental regulator constituted under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981. Its mandate aligns with the broader objectives of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, enabling it to implement national policies at the state level while addressing local pollution challenges. The board’s expertise lies in balancing industrial growth with environmental safeguards, leveraging technical assessments, and maintaining a database of consents and authorisations that supports transparent governance. Its collaboration with central agencies during crises, such as the website outage, highlights its capacity to mobilise external technical support when needed.

Structurally, the Haryana State Pollution Control Board is a statutory body owned and funded by the Government of Haryana, operating under the administrative oversight of the state’s Department of Environment. While it functions autonomously in discharging its regulatory duties, it remains accountable to the state government and receives policy guidance from the central Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. The board does not have subsidiaries; instead, it coordinates with district-level offices and local authorities to enforce pollution control measures throughout the state. This organisational framework ensures that HSPCB can implement uniform standards while adapting to regional industrial profiles and environmental conditions.

Incidents

1 incident linked to this organisation.