India, Sept. 13 -- The firms tasked with maintaining Haryana's 29 Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Systems (CAAQMS) are quoting "exorbitant" prices for operations, leaving the stations defunct for the last six months, officials of the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) said on Friday.

The advanced sensor systems, which feed into the Air Quality Index (AQI), have been inactive since their contracts expired, largely due to what officials described as a monopoly of a handful of foreign firms. The stations form a critical part of compliance with Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) norms, but officials admitted that Haryana is currently relying on "legacy data" to assess air quality.

Contracts expired, tenders failed ...