By H.H.Mohrmen
Reporters of various papers from Jaintia hills and this column has time and again highlighted the appalling state of affairs and the almost absent of law and order situation in the coal mining areas of Jaintia hills. Unfortunately the timely warning fell on the deaf ears of those in power. The latest report is a case of arson where a power tiller was set ablaze by miscreants. It was only when the militant outfit – HNLC publicly named and threatened to punish the alleged trouble makers who were involved in creating fear psychosis in the minds of the people of the area, that the police woke up from their slumber and an officer of the rank of IGP had to visit the area.
Some areas under the elaka Nongkhlieh like Shnongrim, Briwar and Sem-masi and Mynthning under the eleka Raliang have been under media spotlight due to land disputes and land grabbing. As everybody knows the land in question is no ordinary land but a coal reserve. In certain cases the matter had reached the apex court of the country but what happens after that is under a cloud of uncertainty. If court orders were respected there would not have been any law and order situation in the area, but in a case where big money is at stake anything can happen and even the law moves and bends with the blowing wind like a blade of grass or a stalk or reed.
The involvement of surrendered HNLC and militant outfit from the neighbouring states in creating an unfavorable situation in the coal mine areas of the state is a well known fact. The call for ransom in a kidnapping case last year in Khliehriat was traced to a village under the Bodoland Territorial Council. The involvement of Bodo militants in many crimes in the coal mine areas including cases of kidnapping are well established by the police. It is also an open secret that of the many cases that are reported, an equal number goes unreported in the coal mine areas. The story of a man from the Sylhet district of Bangladesh, who migrated to England, committed a murder in London, returned to Bangladesh and crossed over to Assam to escape punishment, is a classic case of criminals taking shelter in the region. In India he married a woman from Assam and then came to work in the coal mine areas of Jaintia hills only to be arrested by the police when he returned to his adopted village in Assam. Coal mine areas are a haven for criminals of every kind and from all over.
Till the late nineties Nongkhlieh was a cluster of peaceful villages on top of Nongkhlieh ridge where people earned their livelihoods doing agricultural farming and Le-tein valley is the rice bowl of the area. During my visit to the area we interviewed few individuals. The first one was a lady who had never seen a hospital in her life and had never had any kind of injection. Another man told us that till that time people in the eleka Nongkhlieh seldom registered their land with any government authority be it the District Council or the Revenue Department of the State Government. The elderly man said that as per tradition land in the eleka belongs to the community. A person can hold the land as long as he uses it, but if any land is left unattended for three consecutive years it reverts to the community. People started registering their land with the District Council only when the Lafarge Cements Company planned to setup a mega cement plant in the area. The then Daloi who was in favour of allowing the Lafarge Pvt Ltd to set up the cement plant which was slated to produce 1.1 million metric ton per annum in the area on condition that it pays 5 lakhs per year to the community, was the first person to register land in the name of his close relatives.
On November 7, 2010 this writer along with prominent NGOs in the state staged a protest against the Lafarge plant because Nongkhlieh is a unique place that needs to be protected. According to ‘Nature Exotic Gifts : The caves of Meghalaya’ a book published by DIPR, Government of Meghalaya, till 2006 Nongkhlieh ridge is the richest area in terms of numbers and length of caves mapped. The book stated that Nongkhlieh is one of the World’s greatest caving regions in terms of cave density. The Meghalaya Adventure Association (MAA) has mapped over 127 cave passages in the area. The protest was to protect caves in the Nongkhlieh ridge from suffering the same fate like those in the Lumchnong area. The protest was successful. The Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council suspended the elected Daloi and replaced him with a person of their choice. What followed was a drama of deposing the CEMs of the JHADC one after another. Since then eleka Nongkhlieh was considered a special case. In a major deviation from tradition the subject of land and revenue in the eleka has always been held by the incumbent CEM in spite of having a mandatory EM in charge of Land and Revenue for the entire district. Nongkhlieh was given a special status because it has huge limestone reserves and coal deposits underneath.
2010 was a defining moment for the people of Nongkhlieh and the surrounding areas because they realized what lay beneath the ground. Till then people who followed tradition seldom registered their land because they believed that land belongs to the community but after 2010 all of a sudden there was a wild rush to get the Daloi’s recommendation and register land. People seized all available land in the area and a free for all ensued. Land grabbing, leading to murder and all kinds of crime started in right earnest. It is in this atmosphere that criminals like Fullmoon Dhar thrived as they were used by the coal mafia to do their dirty tricks.
Realizing the wealth of eleka Nongkhlieh the Daloi of eleka Sutnga went to the extent of encroaching on the former’s territory and bulldozed even a view point at the entry of the Krem Labit cave which was constructed by the Saipung block at Shnongrim. Yet no action was taken against the Daloi for destroying public property. Everything that has happened in the area is reflective of the adage, ‘might is right’ and those who have power and money rule the roost in the area.
By turning a blind eye to what is happening in the area the government is responsible for all the lawlessness and crime there. In fact the government is not only party to the lawlessness but it is also responsible for destroying the exotic caves in the region by acts of omission. Caves like the Krem Kotsati Umlawan system which is the second longest cave in India (21, 530 meters) in the Lumchnong areas is under threat from limestone mining by the cement companies. If the government does not start implementing the Meghalaya Mines and Minerals Policy soon, the state will lose many more caves to mining. Had it been in other states the government would have taken a positive step to get the areas listed as a national heritage site, but this government will be remembered for not doing anything to protect and preserve the environment.
One hopes that incidents like this are a wakeup call for our government and hopefully Dr. Mukul Sangma will seize the opportunity to do the right thing. By doing so he will be able to kill two birds with one stone. Ironically, this time it was the HNLC which sounded the wake-up call and made the police realize that crime has been committed with impunity in the coal mine areas. If Dr Sangma is serious about his tall claims to protect and preserve the environment then his government should immediately implement the Policy by using strong arm tactics to control crime in the mining areas and also to protect and preserve the environment at the same time. The government should act immediately and prevent coal mine areas from becoming the wild east of India.