Threat of air pollution rising in 'pristine' Northeast: Centre for Science and Environment

The problem of air pollution in the Northeast, particularly in the state capitals, is growing steadily but has not drawn much attention so far, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a New Delhi-based think tank has said after an analysis of the available data on air quality of the region, which is often projected as pristine.

“The air quality in the Northeast is worsening. In winter, air quality of cities like Guwahati can be almost as bad as what we see in the National Capital Region (NCR) and cities of Uttar Pradesh. Pollution is also high in smaller cities like Agartala and Kohima. But this has not drawn much attention," Avikal Somvanshi, programme manager, Urban Lab of CSE said.

The warning by the reputed think tank could challenge the impression that the Northeast has pristine air with better forest cover and comparatively lesser development activities.

The CSE analysis found Guwahati to be the city with the most polluted air in the Northeast. "The average PM2.5 levels in 2021 (up till November 30) has already surpassed the 2019 annual average in Guwahati. The city’s 2020 annual average was also higher than its 2019 average, which indicates continuous worsening of air in the city. Shillong is the only other city in the region that has a station generating data for over two years, but due to poor data availability its annual averages cannot be considered credible. Nevertheless, the city’s average is considerably below the annual standard," CSE said in a statement.

Among other cities meeting the minimum data availability requirements, Agartala (Tripura) – with a 2020 average of 45 microgramme per cubic metre (ug/m3) – has been called the second most polluted city in the region. Nagaland's capital Kohima, with a 2020 average of 35 ug/m3, was placed in third spot. Mizoram's capital Aizawl and Naharlagun town in Arunachal Pradesh do not meet the minimum data availability requirement, but the limited data available indicates that these two would most probably be meeting the annual standard, it said.

"Guwahati has almost two months of very poor air quality days. This year, so far, the number of days with air quality in ‘very poor’ or ‘severe’ categories stands at 54 days in Guwahati city. This is comparable to cities of north India which are more polluted compared to those in the northeastern states," the CSE said.

In other cities, ‘good’ and ‘satisfactory’ days dominate but ‘poor’ and ‘very poor’ days have also begun to emerge. Agartala registered 10 ‘very poor’ days, while Kohima had two. There is a considerable number of days in these cities for which the AQI (air quality index) could not be calculated due to poor data availability. All three cities meet the 24-hour standard for about half of the days in 2021 so far. The AQI chart for Shillong, Aizawl and Naharlagun could not be made as these cities do not have enough data.

Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy, CSE said the current obsession with high pollution concentration in the Indo-Gangetic Plain and in overall northern India overshadows and sidelines the early signs of the crisis in the Northeastern states in the national discourse on air pollution and public health. "Weak and inadequate air quality monitoring and paucity of data do not allow proper assessment of the risk. But even the limited evidence shows several cities – especially the state capitals -- are already vulnerable to poor air quality and winter smog,” she said.

Roychowdhury further said, “Cities of northeastern states need urgent attention and support under the National Clean Air Programme for proper risk assessment. This is urgently needed to cut pollution from growing motorisation and congestion, use of solid fuels and open burning, and dispersed industrial sources at the early stages to prevent worsening of the public health crisis in this ecologically vulnerable region.”

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