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Manufacturing and mining sectors are serious pollution sources and risk factors that threaten air quality and human health. We analyzed pollutants at two study sites (Talcher and Brajrajnagar) in Odisha, an area exposed to industrial emissions, in the pre-COVID-19 year (2019) and consecutive pandemic years, including lockdowns (2020 and 2021). We observed that the annual data for pollutant concentration increased at Talcher: PM_2.5 (7–10%), CO (29–35%), NO₂ and NO_x (8–57% at Talcher and 14–19% at Brajrajnagar); while there was slight to substantial increase in PM₁₀ (up to 11%) and a significant increase in O₃ (41–88%) at both sites. At Brajrajnagar, there was a decrease in PM_2.5 (up to 15%) and CO (around half of pre-lockdown), and a decrease in SO₂ concentration was observed (30–86%) at both sites. Substantial premature mortality was recorded, which can be attributed to PM_2.5 (16–26%), PM₁₀ (31–43%), NO₂ (15–21%), SO₂ (4–7%), and O₃ (3–6%). This premature mortality caused an economic loss between 86–36 million USD to society. We found that although lockdown periods mitigated the losses, the balance of rest of the year was worse than in 2019. These findings are benchmarks to manage air quality over Asia’s largest coalmine fields and similar landscapes.