By K L Tariang
In these last two weeks this newspaper published two letters from two writers who expressed their anguish about the filthiness of Jowai town and their frustration at the nonchalance of the authorities concerned. Such letters and a special article which equally highlighted the negative aspects of Jowai were also published by the same paper some time ago. No doubt such observations can be constructive and help to bring about transformation. However, if one is to observe the present trend one can pessimistically assume that positive development in Jowai is elusive. This is rather unexpected since Jowai was already a Sub Divisional administrative headquarter during the erstwhile Assam State and a District capital almost since the creation of Meghalaya. Its people are known to be enterprising and cohesive and as such, their shared involvement would have led Jowai by now to compete with Shillong in the facilities for education, health care , sports, markets and other aspects which can lead to healthy all round growth.
Somehow such positive growth in Jowai is intangible and its citizens seem to be complacent, though disillusioned. The competitive spirit appears to have become subservient to political patronage and that once great pride of expressing themselves as ” I am a resident of Jowai ” is no longer inherent in the spirit of its present citizens. Possibly in these last three decades the consideration for positive human development and all round growth is skewed by a startling narrow vision. Or perhaps the need to assert ascendancy must have taken precedence over worthy causes. The senior citizens of Jowai would be in a better position to elucidate on this.
Rapid urbanization with unplanned growth and a directionless civic body has certainly taken a toll here. While many localities do maintain a high standard of cleanliness with efforts by the local populace to sustain it, Jowai has however got the distinct disadvantage of having its outdated main market in the heart of the town. It is this area which is a sight for sore eyes and conveys the wrong impression of Jowai as a whole. Here indeed the filth is obnoxious. Unlike Iewduh at Shillong which is likewise filthy but could be by-passed to reach many other parts of Shillong or elsewhere, the narrow road which pass through the main market area is still the thoroughfare of the residents of many localities to enable them to reach to their desired destinations . The traffic congestion therefore adds to the filth there. While new roads aiming to bypass the market area have been opened, the people seem to think that these new roads cannot really connect and therefore have few takers. There is also a plan to establish a new market complex in the existing market area which has however not materialized till date. But I doubt if this would ease the congestion problem or reduce the filth particularly as on the latter a long term sewage disposal system for Jowai is still a far cry. In the meantime, the market has spilled over even as abhorrent slums are hemming in the Deputy Commissioner’s office from all sides. The slums are expanding rapidly! I often wonder if a District Collector during the British days would be able to stomach all these. We can take it for granted that he would have got the market area shifted elsewhere when there was the slightest hint that it would explode with people having behaving like non-stakeholders. Perhaps a green park would have been creating there instead. In the present scenario however, one should not even consider stepping into such realms of imagination.
With the expansion of the town, human habitations will spread towards water bodies too. My greatest fear therefore is the inevitable desecration of the river Myntdu , the lifeline of Jowai -“Ka Tawnier ka taken” or the symbolical guardian angel of the town, the source of drinking water, irrigation and recreation and still revered because of its religious and historical importance. The river is already gasping for breath now because of human avarice in the recent past and is now simply kept alive with symptomatic treatments sans preventive measures and in every likelihood, Myntdu will go the Wah Umkhrah way too for which by then it will be too late .
The concerned people of Jowai are aware of these negative developments but they seem to be rudderless and simply look up towards their leaders for deliverance. But are these leaders who they so revere are mere politicians who think of the next election only. They are not courageous statesmen who think of the next generation! It will be the young people of Jowai who will have to answer this within the very near future. I do hope that by then they will not have to lament, “Only our rivers will run free?” whose lyrics go something like this “How sweet is life but we’re crying/
How mellow the wine but it’s dry/
How fragrant the rose but it’s dying/
How gentle the breeze but it sighs/ What good is in youth when it’s aging.”