Meghalaya’s Byrnihat most polluted ‘city’ in India

Meghalaya’s Byrnihat, an industrial town on the border with Assam, was the most polluted ‘city’ in India during February, data released by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) said on Friday.

The study, based on the monthly average of (particulate matter) PM2.5, has put the spotlight on hazardous air pollution levels in urban centres across the States in the northeast, otherwise considered the greenest part of the country.

According to the CREA report, Byrnihat recorded a monthly average PM2.5 concentration of 183 µg/m3, which was around 60 µg/m3 higher than in Bihar’s Araria, the second-most polluted city in the country.

Hapur in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan’s Hanumangarh were the third and the fourth most polluted cities.

The PM2.5 levels in Byrnihat were also almost 1.8 times the PM2.5 concentration recorded for Delhi for the same period, which was the 14th most polluted city in India for February 2024.

The other urban centres in the northeast which made it to the list of 30 most polluted cities in India in February were Nalbari (5th), Agartala (12th), Guwahati (19th), and Nagaon (28th), highlighting the worsening pollution levels across the region.

Out of 11 cities with continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations in the northeastern States, six recorded PM2.5 levels beyond the prescribed daily National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) by the Central Pollution Control Board.

Cleanest cities

Sivasagar, Silchar, Aizawl, and Imphal recorded monthly average PM2.5 concentrations below the NAAQS and were the cleanest cities in the region.

Sivasagar was the second cleanest city in India, followed by Silchar from the area at the 23rd spot. The cleanest was Satna in Madhya Pradesh and the third cleanest was Vijayapura in Karnataka.

However, none of the cities complied with the WHO-safe guideline concentrations for PM2.5, the study said.