Shillong: The Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board is conducting an extensive environmental audit of industrial units in Byrnihat.
This quick response was a direct fallout of the report by Swiss organisation IQAir declaring Byrnihat as the most polluted urban area in the world.
The audit will be conducted on all industrial units on the Meghalaya side and the report findings will be submitted to the forest and environment department of the Meghalaya government within a week.
Byrnihat is incidentally a border town between Meghalaya and Assam. The town is known as Byrnihat on the Assam side and also has industrial units.
It recorded an annual average PM2.5 concentration of 128.2 micrograms per cubic meter. This was as per the World Air Quality Report 2024 published by IQAir last week.
However, Meghalaya has contested the findings of IQAir claiming that the source of pollution is emanating from the Assam side. It is conducting the audit to verify if any rectification measures are required.
The Meghalaya audit exercise will include a thorough investigation of all the units in Byrnihat. The notification was issued by the State Forest Department at the behest of Chief Minister Conrad Sangma.
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