Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma has proposed formation of a joint action committee with Assam to address environmental concerns in Byrnihat along the inter-state border.
“Keeping in mind the environmental concerns, especially in border town of Byrnihat I have: 1) written and spoken to Hon’ble CM Assam @himantabiswa to form a joint committee to coordinate efforts 2) Environmental audit of all the industrial units in the State of Meghalaya in a time bound manner and on regular basis,” Sangma wrote on X.
Earlier, last week Sangma had stressed on the need of a coordinated approach between Meghalaya and Assam to improve the air quality of Byrnihat, listed as the world’s most polluted town.
Both the respective state pollution boards have already initiated action and steps for audit and inspection of their industrial units.
Assam had gone way ahead of Meghalaya, when it recently launched an app for pollution control and industrial compliance. The app will streamline compliance checking and inspection of industries; enable easy tracking of consent applications in real time; single-window system for submission, processing, inquiry, rejection and approval of consent applications.
IQAir – a Swiss company that tracks global air quality – published a report that stated that Byrnihat, which has turned into a regional industrial hub over the years, has the highest annual average PM 2.5 concentration in the world. Very fine particulate matter is a major health risk associated with lung and heart disease, cancer, etc and is responsible for millions of premature deaths globally every year.
