Whenever we mention Narpuh, we generally mean the two important features of this region and that is the eleka Narpuh and the Narpuhsanctuary. These are the two elements of the region which are popular,
but there is more to Narpuh than the forest and the eleka. The truth is that the area and everything around it derives its name from Narpuh forest which was once a thick and vast sub-tropical forest which extends from Meghalaya’s border with Assam to the state’s border with Bangladesh.
The entire Narpuh falls under the newly created East Jaintia hills district of Meghalaya and it extends over a large area. Most of the Pnars in different parts of Jaintia hills call Napuh ‘the dark forest’ or (ki khloo wa iong) perhaps, because of the density of the forest which prevents even sunlight from penetrating into the
innermost parts of the forest. It could also be because of its elevation. It can be seen from a distance as a dark silhouette across the sky. Hence it is called the dark forest. The other most important aspect of the forest is also because u Lum Iakor Singh and u Lum bahboo bahkong (which of course have their own stories) and are also part of the forest. And the three major rivers of Jaintia hills, ka Kupli, the Lukha and Apha originated from the forest covered hills in this region and these rivers were clean till they pass through the mining areas.
The forest which once housed wild elephants and tigers is now a shadow of its lost glory due to encroachment and poaching but the forest still boasts of many more wild animals like hoolock gibbons, a variety of birds and butterflies and other exotic wild life.
Till recently Narpuh was only a reserve forest, but it is now a Wildlife Sanctuary a move which one hopes will help in preserving and protecting the forest and the wildlife in the forest. The sanctuary is bordering the Boraile forest in Assam and it is more than 50 square kilometres in size. Eleka Narpuh also boasts of a network of exotic caves.
The other feature of Narpuh is also because of the eleka or the traditional re gional alliance of the villages in the area which is also given the same name and called eleka Narpuh. The chieftain who heads the eleka is also call the Daloi of Narpuh. Till a decade or so except for Lumshnong, the people in the area earned their livelihood by practising jhum (slash and burn) cultivation and betel leaf and betel nut plantation, but Lumshnong was once upon a time famous for its oranges. Locals claim that the Lumshnong chilly is much more
pungent than the Naga chilly and was once the pride of the area. There was once small lime factory which burnt limestone for making lime paste and powdered lime for white- washing at Lumshnong itself, but the arrival of cement plants has changed all the culture and even the land ownership patterns in the region.
Now there are eight cement plants which operate in the eleka and each of them are located within an area of less than five kilometre radius. Most of the land was once covered with thick forest. A reply to a Right to Information (RTI) application confirmed that large tracts of land fall under the category of un-classed forest by the Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council (JHADC) but sadly most of the land in the
eleka Narpuh is now in the hands of the cement companies.
A well informed source confirmed that CMCL or Start Cement has in its possession more than one thousand hectares of land in the area, Topcem owns more than five hundred hectarse of land so one can very well
imagine what percentage of land in the eleka is still owned by the indigenous people when we still have six more cement plants operating in the area.
The local people have sold their land for a song and in a not so distant future they will not even have space to spit their kwai saliva and these are not my words, this was a statement of a young man from the area who lives in Jowai now. The cement plants claim that they bring development to the area but the question is what development and at what cost? Mining limestone has caused irreparable impact on the environment in the area and the other pertinent question is whether all the cement companies follow all the rules and regulations as mandated by the Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) and the Ministry of Forest and Environment, Government of
India? What about reclamation? How much of the mined areas have been reclaimed? During mining are there any efforts to protect the top soil so that the same can be used for plantation? These are few questions
that need answers.
The famous cave krem Kotsati Umlawan which is the second longest cave in India (21, 530 metres) and third deepest cave in India (215 metre as on February 2006) has now been affected by mining. Mining by using
dynamite has drastic impact on the cave and speleologists (caving experts) do not encourage people to go inside the caves anymore. Perhaps it is not wrong to say that it is doubtful if the Kotsati Umlawan cave still holds the record that it once held as the second longest and the third deepest cave since it is no longer safe for people to enter anymore.
The area is facing acute water problem especially during the lean season, so what have the companies done to see that clean water is regularly supplied to the locals? Speaking of development, do the cement companies construct any roads in the area apart from approach roads to their plants and mining site? There are altogether eight active cement companies in the area. Why can they start a hospital to cater to the needs of the people in the area? In my last visit to the place during World Environment day, I was shocked to know that despite there being eight operating cement plants in the area there is no facility to monitor air and water
pollution. The government and the cement companies have put the health of the people in danger by not installing machinery to measure air and water pollution in the area.
But the other vital question is how many youths are now employed in the eight plants? Each plant employs about 450 employees per plan per shift, so in total the plant employs more than ten thousand people.
The question is how many of the ten thousand employees are local people? Does the industry respect the agreement to provide sixty percent employment to the locals? Many a time local people from the
state were employed by the companies but very soon they were fired from their jobs on the pretext that they do not have industrial culture. What development are we talking about if they do not provide local people training on (so called) industrial culture? The cement companies owe it to the people of eleka Narpuh and it is their duty to train and prepare the local youths to work in their units.
The other question is the cement companies’ Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). People have the right to know what and how the companies have made use of their CSR fund? Why is the government not
insisting on companies making this contribution public? The people also have the right to know why the companies set up their head offices outside Meghalaya and why is there no difference in the rate
of cement sold in Meghalaya and anywhere else in the northeast? To protect the Narppuh sanctuary the areas in the fringes of Narpuh forest were declared as Eco Sensitive Zones (ESZ), but local people protested against the move to protect this last tropical forest in the district.
Everybody knows that the many cement companies have purchased most of the land in these areas, so the companies should let go and also allow the ESZ to be notified. Protecting Narpuh is for the local people’s own interests and for the welfare of the future generation of the area. Narpuh is now the source of clean air for the
people and it is also a reservoir for the area’s future needs of fresh and clean water. Even today Lukha is still clean in the upstream a little further above Khaddum village which goes on to prove that Narpuh can supply the area’s need of fresh clean water if we can only protect and preserve the forest. So the cements companies should play a vital role in preserving the Narpuh sanctuary by educating the local if the companies are really working for the interests of the people.