When you think of small towns, the picture that comes to mind is one of crowded streets, blue skies, open spaces. Suffocating pollution is seen in big cities.
But for all of 2023 and most of this year, a very small town nestled in the foothills has been more polluted than Delhi and any other city in the plains. Not in the capital’s neighboring Himalayan retreat but in another part of the country – Meghalaya,
So, what is choking? BerniehatThe town, in Ri Bhoi district on the Meghalaya side, straddling the Meghalaya-Assam border, is an industrial area, home to clusters of small-scale units producing ferroalloy, tires and tubes, cement and polythene items. The close proximity in which these industries operate results in harmful pollution levels in Byrnihat.
“Since it is on the border of two states, there is large-scale interstate truck movement here. As a result, emission levels are high,” says Sunil Dahiya, analyst at the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA). The city, which has a large migrant population working in its industries, is also seeing hectic construction activity, adding a complicating factor to its pollution mix.
Berniehat is also representative of India’s understudied and underrepresented people air pollution Problem in cities outside Delhi, especially in tier II and III. Overall in 2023 pollution indexActually, Delhi was at eighth position. In Bihar, Begusarai was at second place after Burnihat. Ravikant Anand, assistant professor at GD College, Begusarai, who came to the city from Munger in 2017, says, “It has been a disgusting experience. It is often suffocating and causes an intense burning sensation in the eyes.”
The only other places more polluted than the capital in 2023 were smaller cities, and among them only Greater Noida is in NCR. For Burnihat, this trend has continued till 2024, with the northeastern city continuing to hold the number one spot.
Anirban Banerjee, a senior associate working in the air quality team at the Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP), says the pollution in Burnihat can also be attributed to its hilly terrain, which traps pollutants in the area. . “However, further study is needed to determine the exact cause,” he added.
While the Central Pollution Control Board has repeatedly flagged high atmospheric pollution levels in Burnihat, a joint monitoring system by the Assam and Meghalaya governments is the need of the hour, but neither has done so.
However, many people in Burnihat have learned to live with pollution – it is a lesser evil than lack of income. Take, for example, Mehbooba Khatoon, who runs a budget eatery along the main road in Burnihat. “Pollution hardly matters to us. It is because of polluting industries that we are earning our livelihood. A lot of these industrial workers are our customers,” she explains.
Even the employees are not complaining. Their pay may be modest, but at least they arrive on time. A significant section of the workers in the industries here come from the flood-prone districts of lower Assam like Barpeta, Dhubri and Kamrup, their ancestral lands having been lost due to the continuous erosion of the mighty Brahmaputra.
“While women workers get around Rs 200 per day, men get around Rs 350 per day. Pollution affects health, but the management provides masks inside the plant. Due to lack of jobs in our villages, people agree to work here,” says Imran Hussain, who works at a coke plant.
Whose pollution is this after all?
While traveling from Guwahati to Shillong, the capital of the states of Assam and Meghalaya respectively, as one approaches Burnihat, the lush green scenery gives way to smoke-spewing industries, which has been designated a ‘Clean Air Environment’ under the National Clean Air Program (a city where Designated as non-attainment area. Air quality does not meet national environmental standards).
While there are industries on both sides of the border, a centrally initiated Export Promotion Industrial Park (EPIP) was established on the Meghalaya side in 1996. Currently 21 industries are operating from EPIP, out of which six have come up in the past. Two years. Industries require clearance from the State Pollution Control Board to operate.
The Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board (MSPCB) this year served closure notice to half a dozen ferroalloy manufacturing units in Burnihat for failure to comply with prescribed environmental pollution norms and serious deficiencies in implementation of pollution mitigation mechanisms. The gaps included the absence of properly calibrated meters to measure local pollution that industrial units would have to mandatorily install.
Ri Bhoi deputy commissioner Abhilash Baranwal claimed that there is no ‘red category’ (most polluting) industry in the Meghalaya part of Byrnihat’s industrial area. Officials from the Meghalaya side claimed that the number of units was higher on the Assam side. TOI contacted Assam PCB to know the number of polluting industries along the border, but was told that the data was not available.
“Pollution by industries cannot be denied, but dust and vehicle pollution are also factors in Burnihat. Manoj Saikia, senior scientist, Pollution Control Board, Assam, said forest fires on the Meghalaya side are another issue.
Although neither Assam nor Meghalaya is willing to accept full responsibility, both sides are now advocating a collaborative effort to identify and curb pollution. “Oversight from a central agency could be helpful,” Saikia said.
immediate action required
In February, the CPCB issued a serious warning for the air quality index in Burnihat, which often fell into the ‘very poor’ and ‘severe’ categories, indicating a serious threat to public health. These are the levels typically seen in Delhi at the beginning of winter when crop residues are burnt in Punjab and Haryana.
“Barnihat’s air data analysis shows that its PM2.5 levels far exceed NAAQS (National Ambient Air Quality Standards) and WHO (World Health Organization) guidelines,” said Manoj Kumar, air analyst at CREA.
A senior CPCB official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there is an urgent need to take necessary preventive and control measures to reduce emissions or pollutants at source, to help improve ambient air quality in the region. “CPCB has already issued a warning to the State Pollution Control Board about the severe pollution in Burnihat.”
According to experts, both the state governments need to urgently enforce strict rules for industrial operations, improve public transport infrastructure, implement effective pollution control measures during construction, check forest fires and control air pollution. There is a need to help raise awareness among people about the need.
(With inputs from Rajeev Kumar)
