SHILLONG: After a winter break The Shillong Times led Operation Clean-Up (OCU) resumed its task of cleaning the Umkaliar River on Saturday.
The reason for concentrating on Umkaliar is to help understand the dynamics of the river better; to understand the source of the garbage that is regularly dumped into the river and to attempt to spread awareness with the intention of bringing about a mindset change in people living along the banks of this river which continues to be used by the community for washing clothes.
What is of concern is that the Umkaliar continues to be the site for washing of vehicles in blatant violation of the ban by the district administration.
Surprise checks and heavy penalties would have reduced such violations.
Operation Clean-Up regularly invites through the deputy commissioner, East Khasi Hills the Dorbar Shnong of Nongmynsong, Demseiniong and Umpling which are the three major localities through which the Umkaliar and its feeders flow.
While the Dorbar Shnong Umpling informed that they were otherwise occupied on February 8, when the last river clean-up happened, the Dorbar Shnong of Nongmynsong and Demseiniong were conspicuous by their absence.
When members of the OCU inspected the area where the garbage dumping is at its worse next to the river they were informed that the area was outside the jurisdiction of any Dorbar Shnong. They called the area Ur- Ka-Liar and informed that there is no garbage collection system. The homes around the place don’t also have toilets hence the OCU team detected a lot of faeces around the place. This makes the government claim about Shillong or its suburbs being defecation free a fallacy.Garbage collection continues to remain a challenge in areas beyond the Shillong Municipality and this area requires government intervention. Areas beyond the Shillong Municipality don’t pay property or other taxes but they require similar or even better civic governance. How does this play out in the long run?While it can be said that the amount of clothes in the Umkaliar has decreased with regular cleaning, the amount of garbage coming in from Umkdait-Umpling and flowing down to Umkaliar seems to have increased because the flow of the river has slowed down owing to the cessation of the monsoons. OCU feels that netting the river at strategic points is a felt need. The garbage collection can then be organised by the different Dorbar Shnong.Houses located along the rivers are mostly responsible for dumping garbage into the water. If the Dorbar Shnong have stricter vigilance and if the garbage collection is done regularly and if violators are punished then perhaps the rivers of the city would be cleaner.Students of Kiddies Corner, Women’s College, Bethany Society, Team Jiva, MakeSomeoneSmile and Col Sishupal Security Company (CSSC) who have been the most consistent members of the Operation Clean-Up have appealed to Chief Minister Conrad Sangma and his government to ban single use plastics. Their contention is, “People will continue to use plastic bags as long as they are available; if there are no plastic bags people will find other alternatives.”
Plastic free Meghalaya
On February 8, the UDP in pursuit of taking the Chief Minister’s initiative for a Plastic Free Meghalaya conducted a cleaning drive at Nongthymmai village.
UDP vice president Allantry Franklin Dkhar with the assistance of Emmingstone Khongngai and N Ryndong along with 32 children carried out an awareness programme on the ills of plastic at Nongthymmai village followed by a cleaning drive by 16 children from Nongthymmai to Lapalang, and 16 children from Nongthymmai to the arecanut plantation of Eltimai Ryndong at Mawsiat.After the drive, lunch was provided to the children, followed with segregation of plastic from the waste collection. Dkhar distributed jerseys and shorts to the children, followed by distribution of sweets. He urged upon like-minded people to conduct similar programmes across the state, in order to make the chief minister’s initiative for a plastic free state a success.