SHILLONG, April 4: Since August 2019, Operation Clean-up comprising different groups of concerned citizens has been cleaning the Umkaliar River at the junction between Nongmensong and Demseiniong. The reason they chose the Umkaliar River, which is a tributary of the Umkhrah River, is to prevent garbage from flowing down to the Umiam River which is now heavily silted and clogged with plastic waste. A river serves many useful purposes the primary one being to provide drinking water to people. But without any regulation in place, all rivers flowing through Shillong have become dumping ground for garbage, night soil, kitchen waste and every discard under the sun.
On Saturday, when the Operation Clean-up (OCU) team went to clean the Umkaliar after a gap of two weeks they were shocked to see the river completely choked with garbage. The regulars in the group namely Team Jiva, students of Kiddies Corner and Women’s College, MakeSomeoneSmile, Cleansmann, Col Sishupal Security Company (CSSC), Meghalaya Home Guards, Naga Students’ Union of Shillong among others, were momentarily stunned. The chorus was, “Where do we begin to clean and where do we end? How can people be so heartless as to dump every kind of waste from their homes into the river?”
But these questions have been raised times without number and they are now banal. The crux of the matter as the OCU team have realised over two years of cleaning the river is that there is no strict regulatory framework on how to protect rivers. Members observe that the State Pollution Control Board comes up with do’s and don’ts but has no teeth to implement the rules.
Brian Wahlang, Headmaster, Kiddies Corner who has been cleaning a section of the river says, “Washing of vehicles in rivers is prohibited as that causes massive pollution but if there is no agency to penalise the violators they will continue to wash vehicles in the middle of the river and let flow all the muck and gasoline into the waters. Each time we come here we tell people that washing vehicles in the river is a violation but there is some person living adjacent to the Umkaliar that charges money from every vehicle that is washed. Does the person own the river?” Brian questions.
The other bigger problem with Meghalaya is that there are too many institutions claiming power with no responsibility. There is the Dorbar Shnong, the District Councils and the state government but all three are amiss when it comes to river governance. None of the three have shown any concern for the rivers.
The Umkaliar flows through Nongrah, Umpling and Rynjah before it reaches Nongmensong. The Rangbah Shnong push the blame at others and take no responsibility to warn the residents not to dump garbage into the river.
The border between Nongmensong and Umpling close to the BSF gate bears the biggest brunt. The Meghalaya Home Guards tackled that point on Saturday but found the task overwhelming. Their team leader asked, “Why are the people living in the locality not turning up to clean their own mess? Why leave it to others?” In recent times, the Executive Officer, Shillong Municipal Board, Martina Lyttan, has taken a personal interest in keeping downtown Shillong spick and span by involving all business houses and vendors to keep their space clean. For the Saturday clean-up, Lyttan had rounded up individuals and groups to lend their hand at Umkaliar. They included Bongo Bhashi Mahashabha Foundation, Green Tech Foundation Ltd, Saindur Enviro private Ltd, Pynthorumkhrah Muslim Welfare Association, Keating Road Women’s Wing, Seng Kynthei Lumsohphoh Pyllun Upper Lumparing, interns from IIPS, CPPA, Desire Shop, United Sindhi Association and The Green Signal.
Individuals who joined as concerned citizens included former Regional Director Ministry of Tourism, Govt of India, Samborlang Diengdoh, Danny Shylla and D. Bahun Mukhim (FSSAI) among others.
That the clean-up group is growing in numbers is a sign of hope for the OCU. However, members also feel that unless stiff fines are imposed on litterers especially those living on the edges of the Umkaliar and other rivers in and around Shillong, the littering will not stop. The Dorbar Shnong they feel has the onus to impose such fines to ensure that the rivers do not die an unnatural death.