Guwahati: The Meghalaya High Court has observed that the Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board (MSPCB) did not take prompt action on pollution concerns in Byrnihat despite receiving a comprehensive report on the area’s air quality in March 2025.
Hearing a suo motu case on July 7, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Revati Mohite Dere and Justice Wanlura Diengdoh noted that the MSPCB had commissioned the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research’s National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-NEERI) in 2024 to identify air pollution sources and emissions in Byrnihat and the Export Promotion Industrial Park (EPIP). The report was submitted to the pollution board in March this year.
The court noted that the EPIP houses several industrial units, including steel plants, smelters and alloy production facilities, and that industrial activity, along with traffic on the Guwahati-Shillong National Highway, has contributed to Byrnihat being classified as a non-attainment town for ambient particulate matter (PM10).
The High Court took up the matter after reports in the media and on social media highlighted deteriorating air and water quality in Byrnihat, located along the Assam-Meghalaya border. The town had earlier been identified as the world’s most polluted town in late 2023 or early 2024.
According to the court, the CSIR-NEERI report contains recommendations to address emissions from silica and quartz handling, industrial fuel combustion, dust, vehicular emissions, and biomass and waste burning. It also recommends bringing the entire Byrnihat airshed under an integrated air quality action plan, installing particulate matter control systems in industries, adopting dust suppression measures, developing greenbelts around industrial facilities and prioritising a transition to renewable energy.
The bench also referred to recent media reports indicating that the MSPCB needed to act with urgency and enforce existing environmental laws before the situation worsened.
The High Court had earlier impleaded the MSPCB and the Central Pollution Control Board in the proceedings. During the latest hearing, the MSPCB sought additional time to file its affidavit.
The bench also found the Health Department’s status report to be “sketchy”, observing that it did not adequately address the issues raised in the case.
The matter has been listed for further hearing on July 23.