Guwahati – the capital city of Assam and Agartala – the capital city of Tripura, are the most polluted cities in the Northeast.
This was claimed by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a New Delhi-based think tank.
Guwahati – the capital city of Assam – has the most polluted air in Northeast India.
Guwahati’s 2020 annual particulate matter (PM) average was higher than its 2019 average, which indicates a continuous worsening of air quality of the city.
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Meanwhile, Agartala – the capital city of Tripura – with a 2020 average of 45 micro-gram per cubic metre (ug/m3) is the second most polluted city in the Northeast.
On the other hand, Kohima is the third most polluted city in the region.
“The current obsession with high pollution concentration in the Indo-Gangetic plains and in overall northern India overshadows and sidelines the early signs of the crisis in our 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 a 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,” says Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy, CSE.
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CSE analysed the urban air quality status in the Northeast states of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Nagaland, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh.
The objective of this new analysis is to understand the magnitude and trend in winter pollution in major cities of the region.