GUWAHATI: The worsening air pollution in Meghalaya’s Byrnihat registered throughout 2024 has been due to industries operating across the border in Assam, not Meghalaya.
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This was stated by Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board (MSPCB) Chairman R. Nainamalai on Wednesday, February 5. “Meghalaya has only two factories in the ‘Red’ category,” he stated. “Whereas Assam has around 20 ‘red’ factories lined along the border.”
“We have four air quality monitoring stations across Meghalaya,” Nainamalai added. “Out of the four, only the monitoring station near Assam registered a reading of 341 on January 26.”
The chairman also revealed that in response to public concerns, MSPCB has acted quickly to shut down six factories in Byrnihat, all under the Orange category, for violating environmental norms.
Two factories were further issued show-cause notices with a 15-day compliance deadline.
Byrnihat has overall 41 industries, out of which five are in the Red category (three of them are now non-operational), 22 in the Orange category, and 14 in the Green category.