Over the past few days, there have been a lot of posts being made on social media around the topic of ethanol. The upcoming 20% ethanol blending programme in petrol is surely one reason, but another is an exposé report done by an independent journalist, specifically into the ethanol factory located in Meghalaya and the pollution crisis it has resulted in.
Video upon video, reels, posts and more have been going viral, showing thick black smoke pouring out of a factory chimney, soot-covered leaves, and a small Meghalaya town that most Indians had never heard. Now, this very town is also being called the most polluted city of the country.
Almost overnight, the reporting has made an obscure industrial town into a national conversation.
The ethanol blending programme is part of the Indian government’s attempt to roll out ethanol-blended petrol as a “clean fuel” solution, further endorsed by Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari.
So what exactly is the situation of this small, little town in Meghalaya, and what does the exposé reveal?
What Did The Exposé Reveal?
On Jun 26, 2026, independent journalist Sarthak Goswami uploaded a 22-minute-long video on his YouTube channel titled “I Investigated The World’s Most Polluted City.” The video has Goswami doing ground reporting in Byrnihat, a small industrial town on the Assam–Meghalaya border. The video looks into how a state that boasts of being the cleanest and greenest has the most polluted town.
As per the caption, the reporter sat “with families where cancer, asthma, skin disease and breathlessness have quietly become part of everyday life. And we expose the cruel irony at the centre of it all, the factory choking this village is producing ethanol, the very same ethanol blended into your petrol and sold to the country as clean, eco-friendly, ‘green’ energy.”
Within just a few days though, the video has gone viral, collecting over 1 million views.
Goswami travelled into the town with a local translator to speak directly to residents about what they have witnessed since industrial activity intensified in the area.
In the report, a string of residents describe how pollution has worsened dramatically since factories were set up nearby.
Read More: Govt. To Get A Plan That Will Cut Petrol Prices By 10%
The report also cites government data showing that respiratory disease cases in the area rose from 2,082 in 2022 to 3,681 in 2024, a jump of nearly 77% in two years.
Residents also told Goswami they have to wash vegetables multiple times before cooking because of the black dust settling on crops, that they cannot dry clothes outdoors, and that they associate the deterioration in air quality with a rise in respiratory illness and what they believe are increasing cancer cases in the area.
A study held by the Swiss-based company IQAir in collaboration with the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) also reveals concerning details. According to the study, the annual average PM2.5 level of Byrnihat is reaching 128.2 μg/m³.
PM2.5 is a term used for the microscopic atmospheric particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrometres or less, and is used as a way to track outdoor air pollution. Now, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) guidelines state that a PM2.5 level that exceed 5μg/m³ is hazardous to human health.
In comparison to this, the PM2.5 levels in Byrnihat are almost 25 times higher than the highest limit that WHO claims is dangerous.
One local speaking with Goswami revealed that the pollution is so severe that dust on crops cannot be removed even after washing them multiple times with water.
Is Ethanol Really At Fault?
Some people have come forward to disprove the claim that the pollution the town is witnessing is all due to ethanol, since there is only one such factory in the town.
Author Manoj Mishra, in a recent LinkedIn post, wrote, “An eye-opener video. No mainstream media coverage. However, oversimplified by the journalist, claiming the crisis solely occurred due to ethanol production is just incomplete to say, but the crisis shown on the ground is real and critical. : Byrnihat’s pollution crisis is the result of cumulative emissions from many highly polluting industries, including distilleries/ethanol plants, along with heavy traffic, poor regulatory enforcement, and local geography that traps pollutants. Blaming only the ethanol industry here is not supported by the available evidence.”
In the comments, another user, Ramesh R, wrote, “I have travelled through this small town many a times. Byrnihat, which is on Assam and Meghalaya border has around 80 running factories of Cement, Limestone processing and steel plants. This place also have distilleries and alcohol manufacturing plants. Including Umiam Distillation in Ri Bhoi district. The combination of pollution from these factories coupled with heavy vehicular traffic through this town resulted in hazardous air quality and increased respiratory issues.”
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: Highland Post, The Shillong Times, Frontline – The Hindu
Find the blogger: @chirali_08
This post is tagged under: Byrnihat, Byrnihat pollution crisis, Byrnihat pollution, Byrnihat pollution reason, Byrnihat meghalaya ethanol plant, Byrnihat ethanol factory, Byrnihat factories, meghalaya ethanol, meghalaya ethanol factory, ethanol, ethanol news, ethanol india news
Disclaimer: We do not own any rights or copyrights to the images used; these images have been sourced from Google. If you require credits or wish to request removal, please contact us via email.
Other Recommendations:
Not Everything’s Bad About The Ghazipur Landfill; Top Garbage-To-Use Initiatives
