By Toki Blah
A recent Face Book post titled PLASTIC TSUNAMI HITS UMIAM LAKE – SHILLONG POST went viral. It shocked all those who had the occasion to view it for the picture was so despicably vivid, so disgustingly graphic on how plastic waste and garbage had overtaken the scenic beauty of our Umiam. People suddenly became aware of the menace plastic waste was posing to our environment and way of life. It suddenly brought home the fact that “ka bret nuit” (the traditional method of disposing off organic degradable waste by carelessly throwing it behind the bushes) is no longer applicable to plastic waste which simply refuses to disintegrate, rot away and return back to the soil. The realisation resulted in the awakening of environmentally conscious individuals and groups who decided to adopt a hands on approach to contain the nuisance. Operation Green Hornet, a movement of Green Volunteers that seeks to apprehend and shame people who throw rubbish on the roadside has now come into being. The Shillong Times too has decided to take up cleaning the Wah Umkhrah as the focal point in its Platinum Centenary Celebrations. These are optimistic beginnings that hopefully should turn into a peoples’ movement throughout the whole state.
The Umiam post also woke up the slumbering conscience of the Govt. The Legislative Committee on the Environment, a body set up by Government comprising of sitting MLAs to look into various aspects of environmental degradation, immediately swung into action and organised a high level visit and inspection of the upper reaches of the lake. The Chief Minister and his officers too went into a huddle and came up with directions to the Deputy Commissioner of East Khasi Hills to form a taskforce mandated with the task of coming up with solutions on how to clean the Wah Umkhrah and the Umshyrpi. It was evident and pure common sense dictates that the undiluted waste from these two streams, including the high concentration of plastic that they carry, was primarily responsible for the devastating pollution of Umiam lake. It was encouraging to note that even the staid and sombre demeanour of our judiciary, was moved to initiate positive action on the matter. The Honourable Meghalaya High Court took cognizance of a PIL based on the above mentioned FB post and took immediate steps to come up with measures on how to rejuvenate our dying rivers. The only jarring note was the pregnant silence maintained by the usually strident and cacophonic pressure groups and of course the revered Synjuk Ki Rangbah Shnong. These are the people who have always been so vociferous about almost everything that has to do with survival. Now when it comes to the very survival (ka iap ka im) of their lake, their rivers and their own city, their studied silence is odd to say the least. Have these heroes of the Jaitbynriew given up on Shillong?
Let us accept a truth and the simple truth is, the ability to clean up Umiam Lake, the Umkhrah and the Umshyrpi is synonymous with our ability to clean up Shillong city. These water bodies do not dirty themselves. No escaping from this practical reality. Their cleanliness or filth depends on what flows into them from their catchment areas and Shillong is the catchment for both the Umkhrah and the Shyrpi as they ultimately empty themselves into the Umiam. The pollution of the two rivers is from waste that flows into them from the nallas, drains, gutters and sewers that crisscross the localities of Shillong , both within the municipal areas as well as those outside municipality. This waste in turn is made up of liquid waste as well as solid waste. In the absence of any industrial activity in and around Shillong, the liquid waste that flows into the two rivers originates mostly from domestic sources, ie our houses, homes and hotels. Walk through any locality of Shillong and the stench of overflowing septic tanks is an ever present nauseating smell. This is simply because almost all structures of the city clean their septic tanks by simply emptying them into the nearest storm drain. This filth in turn ends up in either of the two rivers under discussion. Septic tank discharge from thousand of houses everyday has turned our rivers into the black stinking sewers they are today. The only way to stop this is through the installation of a sewer system or sewer systems for the entire city.
Saving our rivers from the solid waste Shillong generates will be a bit more complicated and will require a different approach strategy altogether. No sense in wading into the river itself to clean it. Such one day initiatives solve nothing and we simply end up tackling the symptoms and not the root cause. We have to accept and recognise that households are already collecting the garbage they generate. This in turn is collected by the Municipality or by private garbage collectors ie. the SHG run Lasara Society. The throw and forget (bret nuit) concept of disposing off garbage by throwing it into the backyard, mentioned above, has now given way to an economic based approach on how we deal with the solid waste we produce. Households pay for garbage collection services which in turn provides employment at various levels for the collectors. Today waste, especially plastic waste, should no longer be viewed as rubbish but as a resource that can bring in employment and revenue. But so far only half the work is being done. All our collected waste still ends up at the landfill at Marten and 99% of solid waste we produce ( plastic bags, PET bottles, junk metal etc) still remains a wasted discarded economic raw resource simply awaiting a final linkage to a waiting market. We have to devise a way to link up our solid waste to such markets. It’s really that simple!
A visit to Marten at Mawiong or to the upper reaches of the Umiam lake will immediately show the number of people earning an income from picking plastic waste. This segregated plastic waste is then sold for recycling. In this exercise, the segregation of plastic waste, and only part of it, takes place after it is collected and dumped. Question is , why can’t segregation take place at the very beginning, ie at the household, shop, market level etc from where plastic waste generates? Actually the whole idea of cleaning up Shillong and its rivers will hinge on our ability to segregate waste at the household level. Three simple issues need to be addressed. First, people are already collecting household waste. Segregation of organic and inorganic waste at this level will therefore not be difficult. This can be easily done. Second, segregation however at this level, for both households and the collectors, is key to the whole operation and needs to be strictly enforced. Monitoring by the Dorbars, the Municpality and the Syiem, each in their respective areas of jurisdiction, cannot be over emphasised and opportunities for unemployed youth as enforcers, opens up. Third, MUDA or Urban Affairs step in to facilitate the link up with the markets and end users for plastic waste.
At the end of it all , if there is seriousness in the intent to clean up Shillong and its two rivers, the first and foremost task will be for every citizen of the city to be associated with the idea. It cannot be a standalone initiative of only Govt nor should it be the burden of school children alone. Every person should be a participative stakeholder. Therefore for the project to work it should be a people driven enterprise where the Govt acts as the facilitator and not the prime mover; where people, their organisations and institutions work hand in glove with the administration; where MUDA, SMB and Urban Affairs Dept need to get out of a scheme oriented mindset and instead embrace the concept as “a needs to be done” project of their own. Here is where the Involvement of the Deputy Commissioner’s Office is crucial as the entire catchment area , both Municipal and outside Municiapl falls under the DC’s jurisdiction. As a coordinator and supervisor of the project, the DC is tailor made for it. All the Dorbars should be involved as they will act as the real and most effective enforcers for segregation of waste at the Household level. To me the above is the framework we need to work on how to clean/save the Wahumkhrah, Umshyrpi and ultimately the Umiam. Let “Clean up the Umkhrah” be the slogan but the implementation is really the cleaning up of Shillong City itself.
Author is President of ICARE,
an organisation that focuses
on issues of good Governance.