SHILLONG: Life in limestone-rich Nongtrai and adjoining villages, nestled along the Indo-Bangla border, has witnessed an upswing in the past five years — thanks to the deal struck with the noted Lafarge cement company.
Under the reparation deal for supply of limestone for sustaining the company’s cement project across the border, Lafarge, now known as “LafargeHolcim”, has pumped in close to Rs 200 crore to fast-track development and help bring about heightened economic activities for the local people under the supervision of Special Purpose Vehicle Committee headed by the chief secretary.
On Tuesday, members of the SPV Committee comprising Principal Secretary Forests DP Wahlang and also the Chairperson of the Special Purpose Vehicle Society, and other non-official members visited Nongtrai and the surrounding villages to physical inspect the various development projects implemented by the Society.
Apart from having contributed Rs 171 crore to the state’s exchequer up to 2018, Lafarge also annually contributes Rs 2.6 crore to the Nongtrai Dorbar which is then disbursed to households falling in Nongtrai village to enable direct and indirect employment opportunities, provision of education, skill-development and various measures. Amongst the livelihoods undertaken by the people of the area bee keeping is popular and quite a promising one. Women have taken up weaving, and livestock rearing
Farmers and entrepreneurs from at least 50 villages in and around the mining site have undertaken tea plantations, bee keeping, black pepper plantation and betel plantations. Farmers at Nongtrai village have planted 20,000 saplings of indigenous Khasi Mandarin which should be ready for harvest in the next five to six years. In many ways the LafargeHolcim project has benefitted the people of the areas immensely. Several schools have been assisted in upgrading infrastructure, building better classrooms, computer- aided smart classrooms, furniture, building playgrounds and upgrading some schools from lower to upper primary sections.
A visit to the area reveals that money has been well invested in state of the art community halls, in standardised football stadia, in acquiring ambulances, enabling community tourism projects, constructing village roads and assisting with water conservation apart from scholarships to meritorious students.
At Lawbah stands a Primary Health Centre constructed by government several years ago but yet to be commissioned for want of personnel, equipment and electricity connection. Wahlang has since pursued the matter with the Chairman, MeECL for speeding up the matter. The SPV Society will invest in equipment which includes an X-ray machine that is digitally managed and will give instant results, an ultra-sound machine, other diagnostic equipment’ items for emergency and casualty with minor operation theatre; items for labour room upgradation, general hospital items, items for newborn stabilisation unit and lab equipments and an ambulance.
Wahlang said the Lawbah PHC should not only be made functional at the earliest but will also be a model PHC with two doctors and at least 5 auxiliary nursing midwives (ANMs) so that people from Nongtrai and surrounding villages can access health facilities and need not run to the Mawsynram Community Health Centre (CHC) which is 22 kms away. Nongtrai is only about 6 kms from Lawbah.
The SPV Committee interacted with the Dorbar Shnong of these villages falling under the project areas to assess their development priorities. What is missing from the entire agenda are women’s voices since women are not represented in the Dorbars and are therefore excluded from any decision-making. The SPV Society should analyse the gender concerns including women’s access to health services especially to enable institutional delivery and reduce infant and child mortality.
When this was pointed out to the Dorbar representatives they said that women are not included in the Dorbar hence they were not invited to the meeting. The SPV Committee and Society both need to better focus on gender equality and equal participation of women and men in enunciating development priorities for their respective villages.
Ironically, out of the 16 mining leases granted for carrying out mining of limestone in the state, only LafargeHolcim has obtained clearances from the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), a CAG report had stated. Yet Lafarge is also paying for human development and environmental protection of the areas around the mines. The question that arises is “Why this unequal treatment?”
As of 2014 Lafarge has released compensatory payment to the tune of Rs 100 crore for carrying out livelihoods, development projects and irrigation besides supporting education within a 50 km-long periphery area from Nongtrai.
Lafarge is now known as LafargeHolcim after the merger of the two companies in July 2015. Holcim is a Swiss-based global building materials and aggregates company founded in 1912. The two giants have a combined market value exceeding 50 billion U.S. dollars.
Earlier even the Comptroller and Auditor General of India had noted in its audit that Lafarge is the only company mining limestone in Meghalaya that has acquired all necessary license for mining.
In fact out of the 16 mining leases granted for carrying out mining of limestone in the state, only Lafarge had obtained clearances from the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), the CAG report said.
The SPV Committee is headed by the Chief Secretary. A comprehensive development programme based on annual plans prepared by the SPV Society are vetted by the SPV Committee before being implemented by the Society.
In 2010 the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests was directed by the Supreme Court to form a Special Purpose Vehicle to manage funds deposited by Lafarge Cements at the rate of Rs 20 crore per year since its inception towards integrated development and afforestation. Under the arrangement, Lafarge sources its limestone from Nongtrai area from 116.589 hectares of land in the area. Development activities are to be carried out in the 50 villages around the mining site.
The 255 million U.S. dollar project known as the Lafarge Surma Cement project at Chhatak in Bangladesh is wholly dependent on limestone extracted from Nongtrai village where two million tonnes of limestone is allowed to be transported across the border annually.