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Chandigarh: Haryana Chief Secretary T V S N Prasad on Monday said the state government will soon roll out a Rs 10,000-crore project funded by the World Bank to address air pollution. The Haryana Clean Air Project for Sustainable Development will be implemented in the state in a phased manner with the first phase being implemented in the districts falling in the National Capital Region (NCR) and replication in entire state later, he said. The announcement was made in a meeting of the governing committee of Haryana Clean Air Project for Sustainable Development held under the chairmanship of the chief secretary here on Monday, according to an official statement. Prasad said this ten-year comprehensive project would be funded by the World Bank. Underlining the significance of the project, Prasad emphasised the need of collective efforts by all stakeholders to eliminate the problem of air pollution. It was informed by the officials in the meeting that the project has three focus areas aimed at comprehensively addressing air pollution, the statement said. The initial phase involves enhancements to Haryana's air quality monitoring infrastructure. This encompasses the establishment of a cutting-edge laboratory and the modernisation of four existing ones. Additionally, a dedicated programme management unit will be established to oversee the project's implementation, it added. The initiative also includes training programmes for stakeholders engaged in air quality management, the release said. "Recognising the multifaceted sources of air pollution, the project allocates the bulk of its resources to directly address the issues of transportation, industry, construction and road dust, biomass burning and household pollution through sectoral interventions," the statement read. The project targets promoting cleaner vehicles on roads by electrifying public transportation fleets for intra-city and inter-city travel. It aims to incentivise the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) for private use, especially three-wheelers and four-wheeler taxis. To phase out older, more polluting vehicles, higher incentives would be offered for scrapping them in exchange for EVs. Additionally, a model for setting up automated testing stations (ATS) will be designed to monitor vehicle health, the statement said. As part of the project, industries will also be encouraged to operate on clean energy by providing them financial incentives to switch to clean fuels for boilers and promoting the use of cleaner diesel generator sets through retrofitting or purchasing generators that comply with stricter emission standards. Addressing the significant contribution of this sector to air pollution, initiatives will focus on increasing green spaces in urban areas through the establishment of biodiversity parks and green belts. The project also aims to combat stubble burning by promoting in-situ crop residue management practices. This involves raising awareness about the benefits of bio-decomposers to accelerate the decomposition of crop residue, reducing the need for burning. Prasad said the Haryan government has taken significant strides in strengthening its institutions for air quality measurement and monitoring. Four state sample-testing laboratories have been established in the state. Apart from this, 29 Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations (CAAQM) stations and 39 Manual Ambient Air Quality Monitoring (MAAQM) stations are operational in different districts, he added.

Nifty ended Monday’s trading session 733 points higher with analysts saying that if the election results are better than expected on Tuesday the headline index can even cross the 24,000 mark.The bulls are in full control of the markets at the current juncture and are using every minor pullback to create long positions. Support for the Nifty is now seen at 23,200 and 22,950-23,000 levels. On the higher side, immediate resistance is at 23,350 levels and the next resistance is at the 23,500 mark, said Tejas Shah of JM Financial & BlinkX.Volatility indicator India VIX ended 15% lower as exit polls predicted that PM Narendra Modi will retain power with a landslide victory.According to the Open Interest (OI) data, on the call side, the highest OI was observed at the 23,500 strike price, followed by the 24,000 strike price. On the put side, the highest OI was at the 23,000 strike price.What should traders do? Here’s what analysts said:Jatin Gedia, SharekhanOn the daily charts, we can observe that Nifty has broken above the previous swing high of 23,110 to suggest the start of the next leg of up move which can extend till 23,500-23,740 from a short-term perspective. The psychological level of 23,000 shall act as a key support from a short-term perspective. Daily and hourly momentum indicators have a positive crossover which is a buy signal. Thus, both price and momentum indicators suggest the continuation of the rally.Rupak De, LKP SecuritiesThe sentiment remains highly dependent on the election results tomorrow. If the election results align with the exit poll or fall below the exit poll numbers, it might attract mild to heavy selling pressure in the overall market, including the Nifty space. However, if the results are better than expected—meaning if the NDA secures significantly more seats than the average exit poll numbers—then the Nifty might embrace another round of buoyant movement.Mandar Bhojane, Choice BrokingIf Nifty breaks 23,300 level and sustains, it can further rise to 23,700 and 24,000 levels in the coming days. On the downside, 22,900 and 22,800 will act as immediate support levels. For the Bank Nifty, if the price sustains above the 51,000 level, it could further rise to 52,000 and 52,700 levels. On the downside, 50,400 and 50,000 will act as immediate support levels.(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)

Ratings firm CreditSights on Monday said it expects the credit metrics of Tata Steel to improve in the ongoing fiscal aided by factors like infrastructure-led domestic steel demand and lower coking coal prices. Tata Steel last week reported a 64.59 per cent decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 554.56 crore for the March quarter from Rs 1,566.24 crore in the year-ago period, mainly on account of lower realisations and expenses on certain exceptional items. In a report, CreditSights -- a FitchSolutions company -- said it expects Tata Steel's credit metrics to improve meaningfully in FY25, with net leverage projected to improve, driven by robust EBITDA growth and lower capex. "We expect total FY25 EBITDA to grow robustly year-on-year in the mid 20 per cent range, supported by robust infrastructure-led domestic steel demand, very slight recovery in steel price realizations aided by robust domestic demand...lower coking coal input costs that could offset higher iron ore input costs," CreditSights said. It also said Tata Steel's annual results "were less poor than we feared." Revenues and EBITDA fell 6 per cent and 27 per cent year-on-year, respectively, as continued losses from Europe and higher operating expenses outweighed strong India revenues and lower coking coal input costs, the ratings firm added.