
Byrnihat Tops Global Pollution Charts: India Hidden Industrial Town Faces Environmental Emergency
In a troubling revelation Byrnihat a small industrial town on the Assam-Meghalaya border, has been declared the world’s most polluted city in 2024 by Swiss air monitoring agency IQAir. Once a sleepy outpost, Byrnihat has rapidly transformed into a major industrial and logistics hub but this economic surge has come at a severe environmental and health cost.
According to IQAir, Byrnihat recorded an average PM2.5 level of 128.2 micrograms per cubic meter last year over 25 times the World Health Organization’s safe limit. The town surpassed even Delhi, long known for its dangerous air quality, and now wears the unfortunate crown of global pollution capital.
A Town Choking on Progress
Over the past three decades, Byrnihat proximity to the coal-rich hills of Meghalaya and the urban center...