SHILLONG, Dec 2: State Forest and Environment Minister, James Sangma is optimistic that with the correct intervention and the state government playing a facilitating role, the polluted rivers of the state will soon be rejuvenated
“River rejuvenation is a very important focus area for us as a government. In fact Chief Minister Conrad Sangma is very concerned and so too the Forest department. We would like to put in a system that works so that our rivers can breathe and live again,” said the Forest and Environment minister.
Admitting that it is not an easy task as there are a lot of legal hassles and angles to it, the minister said that the solution is to bring in community participation with government acting as facilitator.
Informing that they are looking at new interventions and are actually working on it now, Sangma said, “I am not counting the chickens before they are hatched but we are very optimistic that with the passage of time our intervention and government playing the facilitating role towards this objective we will be able to achieve something”.
It may be mentioned that in 2019 a fine of Rs 1 crore was imposed on the state by the NGT for failing to comply with its orders to set up action plans to clean up rivers and manage solid waste disposal.
The Meghalaya State Rejuvenation Committee had in 2019 also prepared an action plan for the rejuvenation of the Wah Umkhrah and the Umshyrpi that was approved by the Central Pollution Control Board.
The action plan has assigned responsibilities to various government departments and local urban bodies.
As the city does not have municipal sewer network system, all homes and industries feed raw sullage and industrial effluents without proper treatment directly into rivers. Thousands of families living on the banks of the rivers extract this water for drinking and domestic purposes. This cycle is posing a serious threat to the health of the city’s residents and also to the environment including soil and groundwater.
A river rejuvenation analysis done by the Clear Water Dynamics (CWD), had suggested river resizing works to avoid flooding along riverbanks, identification and design of storm water drains to avoid flooding in river catchment areas, design of sewer networks and interceptor chambers to avoid entry of sewer into rivers and construction of STP’s to treat and divert treated water into river, additional engineering work proposals such as bank stabilization and rainwater harvesting methods (recharge pits), river front development proposal – seating arrangements, kids play area, community gathering places, walking pathways, drinking water kiosk and bio toilets.
A 2008 investigation report on the contamination of Lukha river by the Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board (MSPCB) indicated that Lukha was polluted and had turned blue as its tributary, the Lunar river was highly acidic and reacted with the limestone effluents causing the bluish tint in the river.
It was informed that there are 15 companies, including 10 cement producing factories which constitute the major polluting units in the state. Apart from the cement producing units, three ferro- alloy companies, one power plant and one brewery were also on the offenders’ list.
Seven of these cement companies are based in limestone rich Jaintia Hills districts. Three other cement companies, one each in East Khasi Hills, East Garo Hills and in Jaintia Hills district, have also been listed by the government as major polluting industries.
On air pollution, the minister said that he had a review meeting with the Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board two days ago and the Board is working to the best of its ability despite the handicaps of manpower shortage and financial constraints.
Stating that there are a variety of ways to ramp up their efforts for dealing with air pollution, Sangma said, “We are making sure that we monitor the industries and the effluents they generate and also to check that the air emission is not beyond the permissible limits,” adding that there are lots of constraints but despite that the Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board is doing its best and the government is trying to scale up the activities of the Board.
