Editor,
The setting up of private thermal power plants by some industries in the EPIP Area of Byrnihat has polluted the environment of the locality to such an extent that it has become very difficult for the people living here to get fresh air. It is surprising to see industries operating in Byrnihat being given a license to destroy its environment without any regard for the living population. Thanks to our ‘pay and have regulation free’ culture that firms like Shyam Century and Maithan Smelters are wantonly polluting the environment with their thermal plants without being accountable for it . The fly ash generated by these thermal plants has completely destroyed the greenery of Byrnihat and is now threatening to wipe out even the natural water resources here. The guardian of Meghalaya’s environment, the Meghalaya Pollution Control Board is turning a blind eye to all these realities despite knowing everything. Why? Because they are not at all concerned about Meghalaya’s environment, leave alone Byrnihat’s. The NGO’s too have failed to do anything meaningful mainly because these industries are their main sponsors. The irony is such that one NGO even organizes environment programmes every year mainly by collecting donations from factories that are actually the source of our environmental degradation. If the destroyers of our environment are allowed to participate in our environment awareness programmes then what is the use of organising such programmes?
In this regard I would like to call upon every right thinking citizens and the schools in and around Byrnihat to boycott such programmes in future because how can we be a party of our own destruction. Only we have the key to this lurking danger and not the self interested groups who show their presence only during Environment Day celebration by distributing free T-shirts and disappear the next day after their interest is served. Do you think they really care for our environment ? No, they are interested only in the money that the programme generates. Coming back to the core of the issue of thermal plants, even though this problem of fly ash we face is of serious nature, people in Byrnihat are yet to take a stand against it because they don’t know the magnitude of the danger lurking over us. But if we don’t make the right noises now and take these polluters head on, then I am afraid we have to insure ourselves at the earliest so that we can leave healthy bank balance rather than a healthy environment for our dear one. But I hope that the people of Byrnihat would like to leave the latter one for their coming generations and act against this common and imminent threat to our survival before the ‘DOOM’ becomes inevitable for us.
Yours etc.,
A concerned citizen