By HH Mohrmen
As this year draws to a close one can’t help but be worried that nothing has really changed in the state. The state remains as it was at the beginning of this year. Sadly, the main issue that has caught the limelight in the previous year remains in the backburner without anybody bothering to solve the issue. Last year it was the Langpih border dispute which has occupied much of the public space. Now the issue is swept under the carpet. Precious lives were lost and precious time and energy wasted as all efforts to solve the problem went down the drain. The Langpih issue in particular and the inter-state border problem in general is still hanging in fire and remains an unsolved issue of the state.
Anybody who has visited these contentious points on the interstate border be it Langpih, Khainduli, Moolaber, Psiar, Khatkasla or Khyndewso, Sabuda etc. will agree that the situation in these areas is like a ticking time bomb that can blow up any time, but the government seems to be oblivious of the problem. Government does not think that solving the interstate border dispute is a priority. Are we waiting for another Langpih incident to happen or are we waiting for the repetition of the Sahsniang incident where the Pnars from Psiar, Khatkasla, and Moolaber had to leave their homes and become refugees in their own land? What does the government gain from keeping these issues pending? One would expect that since the same Congress party is in power in both the states, they would be able to resolve the issues amicably. But that has not happened.
I personally don’t see the interstate border dispute as a problem. I think it is silly that states of the same country will have to fight each other over a border as if they belong to a separate country but there are people who consider this a matter of life and death; nay a matter of pride for the Jaidbynriew and I respect that. It is also interesting to note that while across the universe international boundaries that divide countries are gradually disappearing, we in the northeast fight for a piece of land as if we belong to two different countries. The two governments should not keep these issues pending anymore. The states should work together and bring development to these areas. And once the area is developed trade will flourish and conflict will disappear. History (though not recorded) tells us that what had brought the two communities the Bhoi (the Karbis) and the Pnar together since time immemorial was trade.
The over three decade old influx problem which was again brought to the fore few months ago by the consortium of the thirteen pressure groups is now pushed to the back burner yet again. Christmas is approaching and a festive mood is in the air. It will in no time envelope the ILP issue and once again influx problem will take the back seat if not forgotten altogether. If the Langpih issue was eclipsed by the last assembly election, the ILP issue will also meet the same fate because public memory is very short. Once the New Year starts people will continue with their life as usual and again the influx issue will go down in history as another important state issue which was left unsolved yet again. The government may think that it had triumphed over the pressure groups over the issue, but the fact of the matter is that by keeping the issue in abeyance, the government has only been able to cage the monster for a while. Like any other issue which was left unsolved, the compounded problem will raise its ugly head again and then only Gods what direction the issue will take and what will happen.
Another important issue that was kept pending by the state government is the issue that is dear to everybody’s heart – the environment problem. Now in few weeks time, 2103 will go down in history as the year that the Government of Meghalaya has yet again failed the people and the environment. The Mining and Mineral Policy which was meant to be operational this year was deliberately forgotten by the authority concerned and nobody knows what the fate of the policy is now.
Forests are being systematically destroyed and everyday another river or another stream is being added to the long list of rivers which are polluted by mining. Miners lost their lives in accidents and the government simply turns a blind eye to the issue. While the people of the state are waiting for the Government to make the Meghalaya Mines and Minerals Policy operational, we are losing more forests, and more rivers to unscientific and unregulated mining in the state. How many more precious miners’ lives will it take before the government realizes that too many people had died? How much more barren land do we want to see before we decide to take action? And how many more dead rivers do we want to see before we say enough is enough.
The National Green Tribunal’s ban on sand mining from the rivers was not implemented in letter and spirit as pebbles and stones from rivers like Lukha, Umtyngar and many other rivers are illegally collected in broad day light by greedy traders violating the ban. Some of these sand and stone miners were even armed with a permission or lease for mining from the rivers by the Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council. In this case who is violating the NGT ban the miners or the JHADC or the State Forest department which collects royalty from the minor minerals produced?
The Supreme Court order was not respected in the case of limestone mining in Nongtalang and no mining lease or any papers are required to mine and clear forests for mining in the area. Then our Chief Minister came with another of his brilliant ideas called the Meghalaya Green Mission which is yet another mission added to the already long list of missions in the integrated basin development program of the Government. May we ask the Government how can we make Meghalaya green when we have another group of people whose only mission is to destroy the forest?
Perhaps Dr Mukul Sangma is suffering from selective amnesia because he forgot that his Government had promised the people that it would make the Meghalaya Mines & Minerals Policy operational a year after the same was accepted by the Government in November 2012. A year may mean nothing to a Government in power but in a year entire forests in an area can be wiped out and reduced to nothing and as in the case of Nongtalang. In a year the entire landscape can change as both hills and forests disappear.
Huw Morgan in the opening monologues of the film ‘How green was my valley’ said “I am packing my belongings in the shawl my mother used to wear when she went to the market. And I’m going from my valley. And this time, I shall never return.” The character Huw Morgan at least has a choice to leave his valley, but what about those who do not have that choice? People, who were born, brought up and know no other place than the valley that they had lived throughout their lives – what about them?