Shillong: Byrnihat finished dead last in the Centre’s latest clean-air rankings. The Ri-Bhoi industrial town recorded the lowest score of any location assessed under the National Clean Air Programme. Officials released the Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan 2026 results in New Delhi on Monday during the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies.
Byrnihat managed a final score of 108.5. This placed the town at the bottom of the 40 assessed areas with populations under three lakh. No other city out of the 130 total entries performed worse. Madurai hit the bottom of the million-plus population bracket with 132.1, while Jalandhar finished last in the 3 to 10 lakh group with 124.5.
The evaluation tracks more than just air quality. Judges grade cities on road dust, solid waste, vehicle and industrial emissions, construction debris, diesel generator use, and public outreach. Odisha’s Kalinga Nagar claimed the top spot in the small-town category with 198.5 points.
NGT Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava handed out the awards. He noted that clean air is "a practical goal that can be achieved with proper planning and ground-level implementation."
Byrnihat’s score is an improvement over its 85.7 result from last year. Still, the gap between the town and top performers remains massive. Nearby Guwahati placed 15th with 179.6 points. Byrnihat sits beneath Dera Bassi, which scored 110.5, and Kohima, which scored 134.1.
Local industry drives the pollution. A heavy concentration of cement, coke, and ferro-alloy plants sits along the national highway on the Assam-Meghalaya border. The state government recently confirmed that 28 of 37 industries inspected over two years violated environmental norms. Officials have now blocked new red-category units from the area to stem the damage.
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