The much touted Mining Policy was aborted yet again. With people inside the cabinet adopting ambivalent stances on mining it was inevitable that the Policy would be stalled. While Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma has made his intentions clear at every public platform that people should put a halt to the exploitation of non-renewable resources, his deputy BM Lanong is rooting for cement companies which depend heavily on limestone. Mining has become the bane of Meghalaya. A couple of rivers have not only changed colour but also turned toxic. Yet we seem unmoved by these frightening environmental cataclysms. When will people begin the revolution against unregulated mining? In the rest of the country people are waging a war against the mining mafia. State governments are stepping in with rigid laws against unregulated and illegal mining activities. Just how dangerous it is to restrict mining can be seen from what happened in Madhya Pradesh on March 8 where a young IPS officer who was trying to intercept a tractor laden with illegally mined stones in Morena district was mowed to death. In Meghalaya, however the story is quite different with police officials themselves owning coal mines.
Every mining area has a ‘mafia which either tries to buy off the guardians of law or kill those who do not toe their line. Narendra Kumar, an IPS officer of 2009 batch, was critically injured as he was crushed by the tractor and was rushed to a hospital but succumbed to his injuries on the way. The IPS officer, who was recently posted as sub-divisional officer police (SDOP) of Bamor in Morena district bordering Uttar Pradesh, had rushed to the spot following a tip off about mining activities at an illegal stone quarry. But his enthusiasm to carry out his duty proved fatal.
Meghalaya is a unique case in point. Here several elected representatives are either coal barons or are in league with cement companies. There was never any doubt that this would lead to a conflict of interests. These MLAs will do all within their power not to let a strict mining policy be legislated by this government and subsequent ones if they can help it. Unless people themselves take a call and start a movement for a 20 year moratorium on mining, Meghalaya will be headed towards an environmental holocaust.