Shillong, Mar 13: Meghalaya has put forward a joint action plan with neighbouring Assam to address the deteriorating air quality in Byrnihat, after reports branded the town as one of the “world’s most polluted cities/towns.”
The mini township along Meghalaya-Assam border has industrial belts on both sides of the border, putting the blame of pollution on both the states.
In a suo moto statement while reacting to reports about pollution in Byrnihat, chief minister Conrad K Sangma on Thursday assured the state assembly of creating a joint action plan with Assam to address the issue.
In a letter to his counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma, Sangma urged Sarma to create a joint action plan as “Byrnihat being a border town has industrial establishments on both sides”.
Assuring the government being aware of the issue, he said, “We will leave no stone unturned to ensure this issue is resolved and minimised.”
A joint action plan will be developed once officials of Meghalaya and Assam meet on the issue, he said.
Expressing dissatisfaction over Meghalaya alone being tagged in the report, the chief minister said it’s a concern for both the states and need to be addressed by laws that ensure states work together to address such issues.
While not challenging the fact about pollution in Byrnihat, the chief minister sought to clarify some figures related to pollution in the industrial region.
Four manual ambient air quality monitoring stations of the Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board (MSPCB) at Byrnihat recorded the annual average PM2.5 concentration as 50.1 microgram per cubic meter (µg/m3) in 2024.
However, IQAir’s World Air Quality Report 2024 stated Byrnihat as having recorded an average PM2.5 concentration of 128.2 µg/m3, which is more than twice the MSPCB figure, according to the chief minister.
“Further, as per MSPCB’s data from January to March (first week) 2025, the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) of Byrnihat was observed to be ‘satisfactory’,” he added.
Referring to the surprise inspections conducted by the MSPCB at industrial units in EPIP and 13th Mile on January 24, 27 and 31 and February 5, this year, Sangma said 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.
He also mentioned that “AQI generated from the Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Station (CAAQMS) installed in the Central Academy for State Forest Service (CASFOS),Burnihat, Assam, still reflected the AQI as ‘Poor’/’Very Poor’ during most of the days”.
“This indicated that the major sources of air pollution maybe attributed to industrial and other activities along the Assam side,” the CM claimed while adding that the Byrnihat Industrial Area in Assam that runs along Byrnihat town of Meghalaya, has been designated as a Critically Polluted Area (CPA) by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Delhi.
“In fact, it is to be pointed out that there are 20 Red Category industries in Burnihat, Assam, compared to 5 (five) in the Meghalaya side. As per direction of the Hon’ble NGT and CPCB, the Assam PCB has prepared an Action Plan and adequate measures are being taken to restore and improve the environmental quality of Byrnihatarea of Assam,”he stated.
Further, the MSPCB has engaged the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-NEERI), Kolkata, for conducting Emission Inventory & Source Apportionment study of Byrnihat.
The study is complete and the final report is under preparation, he said.
