Our Bureau
NEW DELHI/ SHILLONG, Oct 26: Byrnihat with “very poor” air quality is the most polluted urban centre in the country surpassing the national capital Delhi and all other metropolises and cities, a daily bulletin of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) said.
The CPCB data on the air quality on Wednesday also showed that Byrnihat was the most polluted ‘city’ with an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 302. This makes it fall in the “very poor” category, the CPCB said.
Byrnihat was followed by Rajasthan’s Hanumangarh (297) and Uttar Pradesh’s Greater Noida (278). Manesar (251), Bahadurgarh (247), Noida (212), and Ghaziabad (203) were also in the “poor” category but Gurugram (156), although part of the National Capital Region, remained in the “moderate” category with an AQI of 190.
Mumbai’s AQI was 157. No city in India is in the category of “severe”.
The CPCB had earlier developed its Graded Response Action Plan measures to deal with air pollution. Under Stage I measures, construction, and demolition activities on a plot size of or above 500 square meters are halted.
The restaurants and hotels have been directed to stop using coal and firewood in tandoors. Moreover, the government has undertaken automated cleaning of the roads for dust management. It is activated when AQI is “poor”.
The AQI is a tool for communication of air quality status to people. There are six AQI categories – good, satisfactory, moderately polluted, poor, very poor, and severe. Each of these categories is decided based on the ambient concentration values of air pollutants and their likely health impacts (known as health breakpoints).
According to the Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board (MSPCB), high concentrations of particulate matter levels may be attributed to the build-up of pollutants owing to emissions from industries located in the Byrnihat industrial area. The pollution is also associated with emissions from vehicles, dust generated due to the movement of vehicles, natural dust, and construction activities, the MSPCB stated.
Presently, Byrnihat is among the seven towns and cities in the Northeast that find a place in the list of 131 non-attainment cities under the National Clean Air Programme. The other cities and towns are Dimapur (Nagaland), Guwahati, Nagaon, Nalbari, Sibsagar, and Silchar (Assam).
Reacting to the report, the Meghalaya government has instructed the Chief Secretary, DP Wahlang to take up the issue of monitoring the air pollution at Byrnihat with his Assam counterpart.
“We have asked the Chief Secretary to take up the matter with Assam to find out ways and means to monitor because we cannot go monitor the factories functioning in Assam,” Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong said on Thursday.
“There are quite a number of factories on the Assam side in Byrnihat while we have only a designated industrial estate. Our factories are well monitored by the pollution control board,” he said.