SHILLONG: On Saturday last the famed Elephant Falls looked like a dirty drainage pit with yellowish-murky water streaming down the ravine instead of the pristine clear water that tourists from across the country come to see.
An unbearable stench envelopes the entire space when this effluent-laden water is released by the Eastern Air Command.
This is not the first time that the Elephant Falls has been inflicted with sewage water from the Air Force station. After Prime Minister Modi assumed office in 2014 and visited Meghalaya thereafter, Elephants Falls was one of his chosen destinations. The PM had made several observations which the San Shnong Youth Welfare Association (SSYWA) — a self-help group that runs the tourism facility at the Elephant Falls began to take action on.
The SSYWA also took immediate action on the observations of the Prime Minister and wrote to different agencies such as the Central and State Pollution Control Boards to address the problem of sewage water/effluent released from the Air Force Station at Upper Shillong to the Elephant Falls.
This release of polluted water has harmed the tourist spot and filled it with an unbearable stench. On Saturday the waters of the Elephants Falls were a dirty yellowish colour and the entire area was enveloped with bad odour.
The SSYWA has written several petitions to the respective Air Marshals since 2000 requesting them to restrict the flow of sewage water into the Falls but in vain. No action was taken to address the problem.
After the PM’s visit, the SSYWA wrote to the PM informing him of this and other problems that the Association faced vis-à-vis the Falls as a tourist destination. Following their letter of complaint a joint inspection by the State and Central Pollution Control Board visited the Eastern Air Command premises to inspect the situation there.
The CPCB and SPCB report of December 1, 2017 recommended that the Air Force shall reconstruct improperly constructed soak pits; it shall construct an effluent treatment plant (ETP) for its workshop and treat the effluent generated during servicing of vehicles; it shall construct an ETP To treat the liquid waste generated by Health Care Facility (HCF); it shall submit compliance report to the CPCB Regional Directorate, Shillong and the MSPCB.
There is no report yet if the Air Force authorities have complied with the requirements.
It may be mentioned that all the waste water from the Eastern Air Command is drained out through a culvert in the Shillong-Cherrapunjee road and finally flows into the Elephant Falls.
Speaking to this correspondent, Lional Nongkhlaw, the President of the SSYWA, said that the HQ EAC releases such untreated effluents every once in a while and when they do then the place becomes a veritable stench-filled area that leaves the tourists angry and disgusted.
After the SSYWA reported the matter to the SPCB, they wanted to inspect the place on Sunday but the gates were apparently closed. However, since the pictures of the Falls looking dirty and polluted had been circulating on WhatsApp, the Air Force authorities seemed to have taken some action because on Sunday, Nongkhlaw informed that the water was clear.
According to local residents, the Air Force authorities need to take permanent action on this environmental onslaught which goes against the very idea of the Prime Minister’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
