By H.H.Mohrmen
Mihir Shah Member, Planning Commission of India in his keynote address at the Shillong Water Conclave held at the NEHU Convention Centre, March 22, 2014, while acknowledging that major rivers in Meghalaya are dead also promised that he would talk to the captain of industries about this issue when he meets them next. During the group discussion which followed later, I suggested that the people Mihir Shah should talk to are not the captains of industry but the Chief Minister of Meghalaya. The major cause of water pollution in the state is due to unscientific and unregulated mining and the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has only done what the government should have done a long time ago if it is not for the fact that it has succumbed to the pressures from the mining lobby.
Even the MP of the Shillong Parliamentary Constituency in an interview with the Shillong Times, (ST April 5, 2014) said that he was concerned about the environment and that mining must be scientific but Pala contradicted himself when he also said that mining practices in Meghalaya is better than in other parts of the country, as these are all underground mines that don’t disturb the surface. Is the MP aware of the pollution of the water and soil in the coal mine areas to conclude that mining practice in Meghalaya is safer? What about the people who live downstream of these rivers who have not in any way benefitted from mining but who have had to bear the brunt of having to live with polluted rivers for no fault of theirs. Political leaders of every hue would not like to offend the mining lobby; hence the NGT order is a blessing for Meghalaya and future generation of this state.
The recent NGT order banning rat hole mining in the entire state has vindicated the stand made by environment activists that mining in the state is illegal. All along we’ve maintained that mining in Meghalaya is illegal in the sense that mining is being carried out without any Environment Clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forest or without availing mining lease from concerned authority. In fact all kinds of mining in the state be it coal mining, limestone mining and stone quarrying has been carried on without any document whatsoever. It is rather funny that if one wants to start any business one needs to have a permit be it for plying a taxi or any commercial vehicle and even contractors and suppliers need to register themselves to be recognized as one, but, mining in Meghalaya is free for all business.
The claims made by certain sections of the society that mining in Meghalaya is a traditional practice is unfounded because commercial mining of coal in Meghalaya was started only in the early seventies, besides, the Khasi Pnar people have never use coal for cooking or heating purposes. Nor coal was used for smelting of iron for which the Khasi Pnars are famous for. Our ancestors used charcoal for smelting of iron so the claim that rat hole mining is a customary practice does not hold water.
Then the claim that the central government has exempted the state of Meghalaya from the nationalization of minerals through a special consideration because it is customary practice is also debatable. There is no such document available with the state government to substantiate the claim except for a DO letter from Vasant Sathe the then Minister in charge of energy, Government of India to Captain WA Sangma the then Chief Minister Meghalaya dated 2, July 1987 which says that mining is allowed to continue under the guidance of the Meghalaya Mineral Development Agency and that Coal India is willing to advice the state government if and when it requires to go for scientific mining.
Then the argument that the Sixth Schedule guarantees land owners the right to do whatever they like with the land they own is against the tradition that the welfare of the community (ka bhalang ka imlang sahlang) is paramount among the Khasi Pnar. How can the government allow mine owners to destroy forests and pollute air and water just because they own a plot of land? Does that mean that the land owner also owns the water and the air? Do they own the caves which have taken millions of years to develop? Can they destroy caves which should have been national heritage just because they own the land?
The NGT has arrived much too late for the people who live down stream of the Myntdu, Lukha and Kupli. We must also thank the All Dimasa Students Union and the Dimasa Hasao District Committee for taking the case to the NGT. Like the Dimasas, the people who live down stream of Myntdu and Lukha have already lost their livelihoods and the water is of no use to the community anymore not even for bathing. With regards to Kupli NEEPCO has reported that the life-span of the Kupli Hydro electric project is being affected by the acid mine drainage (AMD) from coal mines in Jaintia Hills which has corroded the machinery and affected the life span of the plant. We have also stated that the same thing will happen to the Myntdu Leshka hydro electric project because water of the river Myntdu is highly acidic but is anybody listening?
The state should consider itself lucky that it was the Dimasas in Assam which have lodged a complaint against the pollution caused by AMD at the NGT, otherwise the state can also be taken to an international court or tribunal because Myntdu and Lukha flow to Bangladesh.
The State Government has been playing with this very important issue for so long and even after coming up with its own Mine and Minerals Policy in 2012 it is yet to implement the Policy. The order will compel the State Government to pull up its socks and start implementing the policy in letter and spirit.
No doubt the ban will have an impact on those who depend on mining for their livelihoods and most of them are migrant labourers and traders from outside the state. The fact is that the state has neglected and compromised on the rights of the people along the river for so long. Similar concern was raised when the Supreme Court banned timber felling in the state in 1997, but the state and its people survived. Banning unscientific mining is not Armageddon and will not bring the world to an end but continuing with rat-hole mining will affect lives and further damage the environment. We have already lost three major rivers in Jaintia hills; all the water bodies in the coal mine areas are not fit for human consumption anymore. There is growing concern that even underground water in the area is polluted due to rat hole mining. Soil is also polluted and a lot of agriculture land is rendered useless now. It is time that we end this onslaught on the mother earth.
We complain that it is getting warmer day by day and we are worried that the hills receives less and less rain as time goes. Isn’t this somehow linked to what we have done to the environment? The government of Meghalaya should in fact consider the NGT ban on rat hole mining as a blessing in disguise and if the government is really is for sustainable development it should take the NGT ban as an opportunity to regulate mining in the state. After mining is regulated, the next step the government ought to take is to find out ways and means to reclaim the dead rivers.