By HH Mohrmen
The low pulse election campaign made a popular jester of Jaintia Hills to remark “Jowai is so dull and damp; it looks as if election is not going to happen in Jaintia hills.” He then suggested that it could also be that the election in Jaintia hills have been postponed. Election in many constituencies in the two districts and in particular the election to the Jowai constituency is not as lively and colorful as it was 5 years ago. In the entire district the enthusiasm, the festivity is nowhere to be seen and except in few pockets, the election is a damp squib.
While in Shillong supporters of the candidates thronged the DC’s office even on the day their respective candidates filed their nominations, in Jowai except for the presence of the security police; it was business as usual in the DC’s office. There was no slogan shouting, no drum beating, no flag waving and there was not even a banner parade recently. For a district which literarily, eats, sleeps and dreams politics- this is rather unusual.
Unlike 2008 where youths were sponsored to watch and enjoy a gig by an internationally acclaimed band in Shillong, and excursions to different places were arranged and paid picnics were everywhere, this year something, somewhere is wrong which has spoiled the ‘tamasha.’ The only reason that election is not as popular as it used to be in the last election is because of coal. Yes black diamond has dampened the spirit of the electors and it can even play spoilsport to some party or candidates. Perhaps readers need to be reminded that for many years travelling on the national highway 44 during winters used to be a great ordeal. Hundreds and thousands of coal laden trucks caused traffics jam almost every day in almost the entire stretch of the National Highway 44 from Khliehriat to Guwahati. But wonder of wonders; This year despite the fact that winter is a booming season for coal traders were no reported cases of traffic jams either in the Khliehriat-Jowai, Jowai-Shillong or the Shillong-Guwanhati section of the National Highway 44. Since the onset of winter from late October till date, traffic fortunately (unfortunately for those involved in the coal business) flows like a river.
During Christmas season shoppers enjoyed a hassle free, shopping spree in Shillong and Guwahati without having to worry about traffic jams. 2012 has gone and spring has arrived and still (God forbid) there is no report of traffic jams, does anybody care to ask why? The reason is because coal business in Jaintia hills has gone down this year. Export of coal from Jaintia hills, be it to Guwahati or Bangladesh is negligible and this can very much affect the election in Jaintia hills big time. Money which used to flow like water is no more to be seen this year because coal business is at its lowest ebb. Coal mine owners who used to sponsor candidates realized all of a sudden that their bottomless pockets are now empty. The coal traders are nowhere to be seen now and even if they are supporting some candidate there is no spending spree anymore; they are cautious and this is going to be a low key affair with very less or no fanfare.
Coal traders alleged that their business is down because of the Foreign Direct Investment; they also alleged that because of FDI coal from Australia or Indonesia is much cheaper than coal from Jaintia hills. Some coal barons also alleged that because of FDI, multinational companies invest in a big way in the coal mines in different parts of the country therefore they can afford to sell their coal at a lower price than coal produced from Jaintia Hills. The opposing parties are quick to realize the opportunity and they are capitalizing on the issue by blaming their opponents for all the mess in coal business. In the coal mine areas the opposition parties blamed the government for the sudden drop of coal business in Jaintia hills. They are quick to convert the issue to election propaganda and went gung-ho on the black diamond issue to beat the other party.
The recent report about the cracks in the Rymbai PHC could also affect the mining lobby and the party which supports unscientific coal mining in the state. Those opposing the mining lobby and the party which supports rat hole mining now see this as an opportunity to condemn and beat the mining lobby which all along claimed that rat hole mining is safe. This is not the first case of earth caving in due to the collapse of mining holes. The case at Sohkymphor village few years ago is similar. Then the National Highway in the Wapung village section also caved in due to rat hole mining. But there are also many cases of earth caving in due to mining activity and there was even a case of a vehicle which fell into the rat-hole because the mines underground collapsed but the story went unreported. A young man who first reported the crack in Sohkymphor village in one of his posts on the facebook page, has all of a sudden disappeared from facebook. The dorbar shnong in the coal mine areas are generally headed by rich coal mine owners; it is therefore no surprise if they would try to gag all information that could have an adverse affect on their activity. There are many cases where paddy fields were rendered useless for agricultural activity and drinking water wells all of a sudden went dry and even river courses were diverted which went unreported either to the authorities concern or by the media.
Now after the incident of the reported case of some buildings in the Rymbai PHC caving in, parties which support rat hole mining and have gone public to say that it is safe will now have a lot of convincing to do to be able to get the common people on their side. This is also going to be a very important issue in this coming election and particularly in Rymbai. The question people are asking is how can anybody mine in a government land? I was told that the land where the PHC was built belongs to the Presbyterian Church, Rymbai and because the government needed land to construct the PHC in the village, the church generously donated the land to the dorbar shnong and the same was handed over by the dorbar shnong to the government for the purpose of building the PHC. There are mining activities in the vicinity of the PHC. So why didn’t the dorbar shnong stop the activity? Who owns those mines in the area? Who is responsible for this? Is the government going to make any arrests? Or can anybody do anything they like in a public property? The government and the dorbar shnong should take suo moto cognizance of the act and make sure that this will not create a precedence. Whatever the government does or does not do with the issue is going to have an effect in the election at least at the local level. Therefore in this election the so called Black diamond could play spoilsport to the festivity and revelry of the election and it could also play become a dampener for some political parties and affect the winning chances of their candidates.