By Nabamita Mitra
The Scotland of the East is how Shillong was known to the rest of the country and outside it. The lush green cover and the salubrious weather had earned the hill city its crown of glory. However, time and complete apathy of authorities have had a telling impact on the environment of Shillong as well as other parts of the State over decades propelling a steady ecological degradation, the pace of which has increased over the years.
The local ecological imbalance coupled with global warming have brought perceptible changes in Shillong in terms of weather, green cover, air and water qualities. With the boom in population and an upswing in the number of cars, it is only natural that the pollution level will shoot up impacting climate. Experts say if not checked in time, matters can spiral out of control.
Weather woes
Shillong was once known for its long and chilly winters and more than pleasant summers.
A 57-year-old citizen, who grew up at Keating Road, says winters would continue for six months with temperature sometimes dipping to zero.
“Water pipes would freeze and people would burn wood and heat the metal pipes for thawing the ice. That’s how cold it was. But it is history now and stories that we tell our children,” says 60-year-old Bhaskar Roy, who spent his childhood and youth in Shillong and Assam and is now settled in Kolkata.
Recollecting his childhood days, Roy says summer temperatures would never exceed 20 degrees centigrade. “It is sometimes asphyxiating during summers now with maximum temperatures between 26-29 degrees. You perspire after walking a few yards,” he tells Sunday Shillong on phone. Roy occasionally visits the city.
The abode of clouds is also known for its rain and the pristine beauty of the monsoon. But rain too has become erratic and drastically less than what it was five decades ago.
“Earlier we used to experience the 3 and the 9-day/night of rain. It would just rain continuously without stopping and we wouldn’t see the sun for days. But today we do not experience that kind of rain anymore. With plenty of rain also, we would never hear of floods in and around the city in those days. But today, a few hours of rain and you will hear that Polo is flooded and there is waterlogging everywhere,” says octogenarian Noren Bareh. As incessant rain lashes the city, the concern is that the flowing water would carry all the urban waste into the rivers further raising the level of pollution.
Adding to the woes is the haphazard construction in the city that leads to landslides and loss of lives during heavy rain.
In 2011, the State recorded a rainfall deficit of 43 per cent, the second highest after Manipur at 45 per cent. In 2009, the entire northeastern region recorded the highest deficit in 30 years with Meghalaya at 55 per cent. Last year too, there was a deficiency of 33 per cent.
But what is happening in Shillong is not an isolated phenomenon and global warming is a major propellant, says Devesh Walia, Head of the Department of Environmental Studies at North-Eastern Hill University.
“There are perceptible changes in the climate here and the reasons are both natural and man-made. Anthropogenic factors have fastened the process,” he says.
Walia, however, explains that there are certain things which are beyond the control of mankind and the environmental cycle will take its own course. “The entire world is experiencing the phenomenon of rising temperature. Climatic conditions are changing. For Shillong, the changes have become perpetual in the last three to four years,” he says.
Ristimai Wankhar (86) feels nothing is the same anymore. “The air over Shillong is not fresh anymore. Earlier, every season of the year was at the right time. Be it winter, summer, autumn or spring, all the seasons were felt at their own time. Today, I can’t understand nor can I explain the way the weather is,” says Wankhar.
Many old-timers echo Wankhar’s views. Summer was comfortable as compared to the unbearable heat now that is “comparable to the plains”. “The continuous rain would make the rivers clean. But due to rampant felling of trees, I think we are getting less rain. We should plant more trees to get more water. Now it rains heavily for some time and again it becomes sunny and winters are short. The anomalies are all because of rising level of pollution,” says Bareh.
Uma Purkayastha, who came to Shillong from Sylhet in the 1960s remembers the winters as time for picnics and social gatherings. “Nobody would leave Shillong during winters as those were the best time of a year. Now people go out of the city during winter and social gatherings too have lessened,” she says.
Many establishments and offices in Shillong now have air conditioning machines which are adding to the surrounding heat. Simply put, it is a vicious circle of environmental degradation.
How green is my valley
Shillong, its vicinity and other parts of the State started losing the green cover from the seventies and in the later part of the decade the forest cover alarmingly dwindled to just 40 per cent as illegal mining, expansion of roads, rapid urbanisation and sheer greed devoured vast stretches of forests.
However, a senior official in the forest department says over the years, the greenery was regained and now the forest cover stands around 76 per cent.
He says the Supreme Court’s intervention in 1996 helped in reducing tree felling by 95 per cent. Social forestry since early 1980s has also helped in reviving the greenness.
This claim was outrightly confuted by Sajay Laloo, a concerned citizen whose PIL led the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to issue prohibitions and guidelines to give a new lease of life to the Myntdu river and the environment surrounding it.
“This is complete eyewash. The number of trees that successive governments planted over the decades would have covered an area bigger than the state of Meghalaya,” he smirks.
Laloo says most of the trees that governments planted died because “you cannot just put a baby plant into the soil and leave it without care”. So it is a waste of lakhs of public money. “All rules are in letter and not implemented in spirit.”
In an earlier interview, Tambor Lyngdoh, secretary of the Federation of Hima, had echoed the same concern saying of the 7 lakh saplings from a nursery in Assam planted in Mawphlang, not even 30,000 survived.
Laloo also lashes out at MeECL for destroying half the greenery of the city by cutting down trees every time the branches spread out. “It is illogical to cut down a full-grown tree. Why cannot they just use capped wires,” he suggests.
Wires bunched chaotically on rusty poles and stretched to every possible direction scar Shillong’s beauty and there is little greenery left along city roadsides.
Laloo says many plots of government land in the city are lying barren due to the forest department’s apathy. “For instance, 30 feet from the edge of all the State roads are government land, but there are hardly any trees. As a result these lands are grabbed by neighbouring land owners. In a 30-foot strip of land along the roads and highways, three rows of trees can be planted. They will not only serve as a barrier for the vehicle from falling into the deep steep of the dangerous hilly roads but will also purify the air and retain water in the soil, besides providing shade,” he adds.
The forest department official says the land along national highways belongs to the country’s highway authority, which is supposed to plant trees. “In fact, the National Highway Authority of India is facing heat for non-compliance of green rules. For State highways, like the one connecting Shillong with Barapani, we have planted trees like cherry blossoms under social forestry,” he adds.
Greenery on the outskirts of the city is also decreasing due to private mining. When pointed out that many households are mining limestone on private land in Mawphlang and that greenery has become the victim of their lust for lucre, the official says the department was not aware of the situation as there was no complaint.
“But now that it has been pointed out we
will send our officials to take stock of the situation.”
Meghalaya also does not have an Environment Protection and Conservation Policy and the Forest Department says it follows the central rules. (Part~II next week)
(With inputs from Olivia Lyngdoh Mawlong)
