Fighting the green battle

By Nabamita Mitra

Shillong is losing her green cover and the pace has increased. Planting saplings and cleaning neighbourhoods are not celebratory rituals for a hyped government scheme or of a particular occasion but are among habits of a Good Samaritan. For those who are oblivious to the environmental causes, there should be laws as stringent as the Criminal Penal Code. Sunday Shillong speaks to authorities and green crusaders to find out the ground reality.

MUDA green manual

Shillong is not really a planned city and since most of the land belongs to individuals, rapid concretisation has enormously impacted the greenery. Many citizens have felled trees on their respective premises for expansion of construction. A booming tourism sector has also made it necessary to set up hotels and guest houses. Now, there is hardly a speck of green in the Police Bazar-Keating Road-GS Road stretches.
A former resident of Keating Road says in the past the entire stretch had rows of trees and jackals used to come out at night. “There were only a few shops and Assam-type buildings,” he tries to draw a picture in his mind.
Keating Road is a concrete jungle now and a business hub. It is the same for other parts of the city like Lawsohtun, Rilbong, Kench’s Trace, Laitumkhrah and Mawprem, among others.
Every house once had an orchard and fruit trees, like plums and oranges, were in abundance. Now most of the houses have decorative plants and flowering trees and rarely would one see fruit-bearing trees on private land in the city.
It is high time for the Government to introduce a minimum one tree per house policy, feels Sajay Laloo, a concerned citizen. “This is because clean and healthy environment is the basis of cheaper cost of living,” he says.
So why doesn’t MUDA make it mandatory for every building to plant trees? A senior MUDA official says the authority is taking measures to make town planning environment-friendly.
“The building bylaws have provision for 10-15 per cent soft cover in a building plan. This non-concrete part will help recharge the groundwater level. But the point is we do not use tube wells here and the logic of groundwater rejuvenation is muted,” he says.
Jevon Handing, a TERI scientist, who visited Shillong in 2007, had cautioned against uncontrolled use of groundwater and spoke about the necessity to have rainwater harvesting. In fact, in earlier days people would harvest rainwater using traditional method with bamboo and tin channels.
Green activist Naba Bhattacharjee says MUDA’s rules are on paper and nothing is implemented strictly.
About planting saplings along the road, the MUDA official says roads in Shillong are narrow and it is difficult to plan such beautification.
However, MUDA is taking other measures like it is in the process of adopting the latest guidelines laid down by the Town and Country Planning Organisation that mandates planting trees, energy efficiency and rainwater harvesting, among other things. The urban development authority is also working in tandem with the Forest Department to check the environmental degradation.
“Also, the master plan identifies Macabe Road as the lung area of the city. But it is caught in a legal tangle and once things are settled we can start working on developing the area,” says the MUDA official. He adds that there has been a paradigm shift in priorities with the coming of NGT and things will change and the urban heat island effect will be mitigated.
When the government is making stringent rules for the common man, its buildings in Lower Lachumiere rarely set precedence and with no parking area, the space for lawn and garden as well as the road are used for cars.

City’s dump yard

As the population increases, waste products pile up in the city posing a serious challenge for authorities.

The government claims it has taken measures to manage solid waste and waste water.
The streams flowing through the city have turned into drains thanks to waste water discharge and some ignoramuses’ habit of throwing solid waste into the water bodies.
Bhattacharjee, who was the first activist to take legal course against the pollution of the Umshyrpi and the Wah Umkhrah, says the dumping of garbage, which was estimated to be around 120 tonnes per day, is clogging drains. “These two rivers meet the Wah Ro Ro that finally empties into the Umiam. Also, there are around 4,000 households near these streams which have direct waste discharge into the waterbodies,” says Bhattacharjee.
FIFA’s technical consultant Eric Harrison, who came to Shillong a few years ago to monitor the FIFA project of an artificial turf at Polo, was concerned about the “drain” (read: Wah Umkhrah) near the ground.
It is surpirising but true that the city does not yet have a sewerage system though Urban Affairs Minister Ronnie Lyngdoh says the Government is seriously working on the drawback.

“We already have a plan to tackle the problem. However, cleaning both the Umshyrpi and the Wah Umkhrah involves huge funds and we are taking it up in phases. We are trying to clean the rivers within this financial year and make them fit for human beings,” says the minister.
Lyngdoh says a proper sewerage system is difficult to plan in a hilly terrain but the stream water, into which waste is discharged, is treated properly. “The chief minister is serious about cleaning the streams, especially the Wah Umkhrah, so that the waterside can be developed for citizens,” he adds.
Last year, NGT pulled up many hotels for mindless pollution of rivers. This shook up the government from a perpetual stupor and forced it to act.
Many establishments like hospitals and hotels have now taken up waste water management, says the MUDA official adding that the authority will now approach households to adopt such cost-effective and simple methods for recycling.
The Government has also set up a dump yard for solid waste management at Marten that sits “right on top of the Umiam”.
“When it rains, where does all the filth get washed away to,” says Laloo.
Bhattacharjee, in one of his articles in The Shillong Times, had pointed out, “The life of the dam was estimated to be 200 years at the time of commissioning. Yet hydrographic survey, water quality analysis, catchment assessment, including sediment flow rate data, reveal the astounding fact that the Umiam Lake will not survive for more than 30 to 35 years.” This was in 2008.
The colour of the Umiam water too has changed due to the growth of harmful algae that is damaging the ecosystem of the lake. When a lake has a particularly large algal bloom, and the water becomes murky and green, the aquatic life can die due to lack of oxygen dissolved in water.
F.B Chyne of the Shillong Municipal Board allays fears of the lake vanishing one day. He says the Marten has been there since 1938 and earlier rainwater would carry the dirt and filth into the Umiam. “But the reconstructed compost plant and the sanitary landfill, which will be operational soon, will check the flow of garbage into the Umiam,” he says.

Pollution control

The uncontrolled rise in the number of vehicles and construction has raised the level of dust particles and other harmful elements in the air. Many citizens walking the streets of Shillong, which was once a welcoming sanatorium for ailing people from the plains, can be spotted with masks.
Industries and mining have only worsened the situation.
C.P Marak, chairman of the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB), says the authority has installed modern technology that will provide real-time data that can be monitored by both SPCB and the national monitoring body. “This way we will instantly know who is flouting the rules and act promptly,” he says.
The board also keeps a hawk eye on red category industries in the State like ferro-alloy and cement.
Marak says there are 54 water sampling stations and around eight air testing units across Meghalaya and more will come up for intensive monitoring.
But the damage has already been done to a great extent and recuperating from it would take a long time. For example, the Lukha (which in Pnar means reservoir of fish) river in Sonapur in West Jaintia Hills has turned blue and the aquatic flora and fauna have been destroyed due to open mine pits and the effluents that flow into the water body from the nearby coal mines in the Narpuh Reserve Forest.
Marak says SPCB regularly monitors water bodies in cases of complaints and sends out alerts to the Government. “We are conducting a study on the Lukha and the report will be out soon,” he adds.

Vehicle check

Emission from vehicles, especially trucks, is another hazard. But there are no stringent rules or surprise checks on city roads. Also, the pollution certificate that an old car obtains is a one-time affair and there are no periodical checks for renewal of certificates.
East Khasi Hills Deputy Commissioner P.S Dkhar says it is true that there are no frequent checks on road for errant vehicles but there is a provision for pollution certificates that are mandatory for all vehicles. “Tests have to be done more frequently, especially for old vehicles,” he says.
A senior official in the East Khasi Hills District Transport Office says according to the existing rules, a vehicle has to go for emission check every six months and “it is implemented strictly and flouters are penalised”.
On spot checking, the official says the department is facing manpower crisis.

Saving Mother Earth

Standing on the edge of the cliff, the Government as well as other stakeholders, including the common man, cannot pretend to be living in cloud-and-cuckoo land and should work on warfooting to check the disaster that is waiting to happen.
Laloo says there are no guidelines restricting construction near river banks. “If there is a proper Environment Protection and Conservation Policy, with time I am sure even reviving the Umkhrah River (that flows through the Polo area in the city is one of the worst cases of water pollution) will not be impossible.”
The fate of the Umjasai in Lawsohtun is also similar with houses being constructed near the lower part of the stream, which is the dump yard for domestic waste, both solid and liquid.
At this juncture, further dilly-dally might cause irreparable damage to the environment in and around the city. “Climate change is beyond human control. But we can lessen the effect by consuming less fuel, planting more trees, but cautiously because not all trees are suitable for air cleansing,” says Devesh Walia, Head of the Department of Environmental Studies at North-Eastern Hill University.
The Forest Department says the awareness level among citizens has gone up and people come to collect saplings from the Department for planting. It is focusing on indigenous species and discouraging exotic species to avoid “flora falsification” and charges a nominal amount. Buyers can choose which plant to take.
“The Meghalaya Tree Preservation, 1976, is strictly implemented. We have also clamped down on irresponsible mining under the Meghalaya Minor Minerals Concession Rules, 2016. We are also using satellite imageries to monitor illegal mining,” said the senior forest official.
The department is also targeting the youth to spread awareness and hold programmes in schools at frequent intervals. In fact, many schools have environmental studies in their curricula.
A senior co-ordinator of Loreto Convent Higher Secondary School says the junior section has environmental studies. A group of students from classes VI to XII has Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation, a group, under which they plant saplings frequently. The school is a plastic-free zone.
Some schools like Seven Set Annexe Higher Secondary have Environment Studies for all sections.
“Our students plant trees on the campus and at home as it is part of the practical work of the subject. We also take them out to the Sacred Groves and botanical gardens so that we can inculcate in them care and concern for the environment,” informs the vice principal of the school.
Laloo says the Horticulture Department should work with the Forest and Environment in green projects and there should be fruit gardens at various places. He also feels that the NGT guidelines set for the Myntdu river, restricting building of houses, should be applicable across the State.
Illegal mining is another hazard that needs to be checked. Walia says the central mining rule as well as the state regulations, if implemented in letter and spirit, can address all environmental issues.
But the question arises whether the State authorities are sincerely taking cognizance of the matters which have long-term ramifications.
Pointing out the past blunders of government authorities, Bhattacharjee says rampant felling of trees in Riat and Raid Laban forest in 2005 led to severe water crisis in the area.
In 2012, the State Government tried to change the definition of forest to facilitate illegal felling and mining. “Does this, in any way, prove that the Government is serious about saving the environment,” says Bhattacharjee, who was the convener of the Meghalaya People’s Environment Rights Forum that, along with FKJGP, raised its voice against such blatant flouting of central green rules. He says a holistic approach, which would include awareness programmes and strict implementation of penalty, should be taken up.
It is true that with time awareness among citizens on environmental hazards has increased but this should be translated into action. Concerned citizens and traditional bodies, instead of waiting for government measures, should take up the cudgel to bring about a perceptible change before it is too late.

(With inputs from

Prasanta Phukon & Willie Gordon Suting)

(Photo courtesy: Sanjib Bhattacharjee, Shillong Over the Years by Anup Mahanta)