A failed state

Editor,
The tripartite agreement between several cement companies, the state forest department  and  the  Ministry  of Environment and Forests which will allow cement  companies  to purchase land for the proposed afforestation activity
is  preposterous  and  ludicrous.  How can a government which has failed to monitor  the  incessant,  relentless  flouting  of  norms  of  these  cement companies  have the audacity to even think of such an agreement.  The Joint Inspection  Team  report  which was approved by the Ministry of Environment and  Forests  indicated  that 1600 hectares (close to 4000 acres) of forest land  was misused by the nine cement companies in Jaintia Hills. It is also very  devious  on  the  part  of  the  government  to  come up with such an agreement  even  after having knowledge that such an agreement would amount
to  a  violation  of  the provisions of the Land Transfer Act and the Sixth Schedule  and the fact that the very same companies violated the provisions of  the  Forest Conservation Act 1980 by operating in ‘thick’ forest areas. The  state  government  also  added  fuel  to the fire by succumbing to the demands  of  the  mining  lobby by amending the Meghalaya Forest Regulation
(Application and Amendment) Act, 1973 to provide a license to deforest with impunity. The state government is either too naïve or rash to accept such a proposal.  Ideally, the government should have intervened at the beginning when  the cement companies were reported to have contravened the provisions of  the Forest Conservation Act 1980. Such violation should have been dealt with through penal and strict disciplinary action. If the state government is  interested  in protecting the rights of its people and the environment, it  should  ensure  that these companies reclaim and rehabilitate the mines
that  they  have  exploited and afforest it rather than give them more land and  fine these companies for destruction of the environment and forests as well as deliberate contravention of environmental law.
Yours etc.,
Jonathan Donald Syiemlieh
New Delhi