Major source of air pollution in Byrnihat is from Assam: Conrad Sangma

Meghalaya, Mar 13: Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Thursday mentioned that poor air quality in Byrnihat “may be attributed to industrial and other activities along the Assam side.”

Recently, the World Air Quality Report 2024 released by Swiss air quality technology company IQAir has named Byrnihat as the world’s most polluted town.

In a suo moto statement in the Assembly, Sangma said Byrnihat’s (Meghalaya) air quality has been found “satisfactory” by the Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board (MSPCB).

However, Byrnihat (Assam) still reflected air quality as “poor to very poor” as reported by the Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Station installed in the Central Academy for State Forest Service.

“This indicates that the major sources of air pollution may be attributed to industrial and other activities along the Assam side,” the Chief Minister told members of the House.

He added that Byrnihat Industrial Area in Assam, which runs along Byrnihat town of Meghalaya, has been designated as a Critically Polluted Area (CPA) by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Delhi.

“It is to be pointed out that there are 20 Red Category industries in Byrnihat, Assam, as compared to 5 on the Meghalaya side. As per the direction of the National Green Tribunal and CPCB, the Assam Pollution Control Board has prepared an action plan, and adequate measures are being taken to restore and improve the environmental quality of the Byrnihat area of Assam,” Sangma said.

Countering the World Air Quality Report 2024, Sangma said the data showed Byrnihat has recorded an average PM2.5 concentration of 128.2 micrograms per cubic meter (µg/m3.)

However, as per data generated from the four manual ambient air quality monitoring stations of the MSPCB located at Byrnihat town, the average PM2.5 concentration for 2024 is 50.1 micrograms per cubic meter (µg/m3,) Sangma informed.

“Further, as per MSPCB’s data from January to March (first week), 2025, the overall Air Quality Index of Byrnihat was observed to be satisfactory,” he said.

Moreover, MSPCB conducted surprise inspections at industrial units in the area on January 24, 27, 31, and February 5, 2025.

The inspections revealed violations of pollution norms, including heavy emissions from chimneys due to non-operation of pollution control devices, ineffective pollution control devices, and non-transmission of online emission data.

“As a result, the MSPCB issued closure notices to seven industrial units and imposed environmental compensation on two industrial units,” he said.

MSPCB has also engaged the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-NEERI), Kolkata, to conduct an emission inventory and source apportionment study of Byrnihat.

The study has been completed, and the final report is under preparation, Sangma said.