By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Oct 27: A day after the Central Pollution Control Board declared Byrnihat to have “very poor” air quality, making it the most polluted urban centre in the nation, surpassing even the capital and all other metropolises and cities, the Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board sent officials to Byrnihat on Friday to see if the industrial units follow the regulations.
When visiting Byrnihat on Friday, MSPCB Engineer F Laloo stated that many enterprises fail to turn on their pollution control devices. As a result, the Board has ordered all industries to install CCTV cameras and to turn in their CCTV footage by Monday or Tuesday.
With an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 302, Byrnihat was the most polluted “city”, according to CPCB data on the quality of the air on Wednesday. Because of this, it qualifies as “very poor”.
The MSPCB is unclear, though, if the Central Pollution Control Board is referring to the industry on the Assam or Meghalaya sides of Byrnihat.
The Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Station (CAAQMS), a system that allows for online air quality monitoring at any time of day from any location, is now being considered by the Board as a mandate for all industrial units.
The Board officials are also in charge of the industries’ stack monitoring, and on Thursday, stacks of three units were monitored.
The Board intends to carry out additional stack monitoring of the units the following week now that the monsoon season has ended.
To keep an eye on the amount of pollutants released into the air, stack monitoring involves analysing the hazardous gases that are produced from stacks.
Byrnihat is currently one of the seven Northeastern towns and localities included in the National Clean Air Programme’s list of 131 non-attainment cities. The remaining towns and cities include Silchar, Guwahati, Nagaon, Nalbari and Sibsagar in Assam and Dimapur in Nagaland.
