By HH Mohrmen
The MDA government may blame COVID -19 for its failure; it can cite the lockdown due to the pandemic as an excuse for its failure. It can cite a plethora of reasons that it has not been able to deliver much services to the people of the state.
In the previous article we had discussed about legacy and learned that every person wishes to leave some kind of legacy behind. Leaving behind a legacy is not just the wish of an individual, but organisations and even governments too desire to leave some legacy for posterity. Similarly, the citizens of the state would like to see what legacy the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) leaves behind after it has completed five years of its tenure in government. Now four years have elapsed and in few months’ times the MDA government will have to produce its report card and share with the people its achievements in the last five years. The one area that the Conrad Sangma has failed miserably is to protect the fragile environment of the state.
If we take nature conservation into consideration, the MDA government does not have much to show to the people of the state. One may also ask how green its policies and approaches are in its endeavour to develop the state. Perhaps it is not wrong to say that at the end of the day, Conrad Sangma’s MDA will be remembered as the government which has done very little or nothing to protect the environment.
The MDA government may blame COVID -19 for its failure; it can cite the lockdown due to the pandemic as an excuse for its failure. It can cite a plethora of reasons that it has not been able to deliver much services to the people of the state. To some extent it is also true that the lockdown due to the first wave of COVID attack followed by the second wave and now the third wave, has had a huge impact on the state and its people. But the truth is the government’s approaches to environment conservation is questionable.
No walking the talk
this Chief Minister
To the people of the state’s pleasant surprise one fine day, Conrad Sangma decided to do what no former CM of the state has ever done before to mark the observance of World Environment Day. On June 5, 2018, World Environment Day the CM decided to walk to his office at the main secretariat from his home in Upper Shillong to demonstrate to the world how serious he was in his effort to protect the environment and everybody was happy with this gesture. The very next day he was at his best self again travelling with his usual cavalcade of cars guzzling gasoline to the hilt. It soon turns out to a mere PR exercise. The Chief Minister was only trying to fool the people of the state. The walk to office gesture which he wishes others to emulate became a flop show as it turned out to be a one-day affair only. This chief minister is not somebody who walks the talk.
Million tree campaign
The other gimmick that the Chief Minister came up with was to plant one million tree saplings during World Environment Day. This is another brilliant idea, a well thought off PR exercise which drew so many eye- balls. But at the end of the day, it become an empty rhetoric. When the government was asked where were the million trees planted, mum was the answer. And when another pertinent question of how many of the million saplings survived the winter, no answer came forth from the government to that question too.
Minding the mining
business
The MDA government in spite of its commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals, instead of stopping the illegal coal mining in the state, looks like it encourages people to engage themselves in the activity. The MDA government seems to encourage illegal transport of coal from the state by feigning ignorance to what happens along the national highways. There were many reports of this illegal activity in the press and many coal-laden trucks were apprehended by the police at different locations and at different points of time. The question that begs the answer is whether the government has helped speed up the investigation into the illegal coal mining which has taken many lives? Has the government initiated any legal action against the owners of the trucks which the police had caught illegally transporting coal from the State to Assam?
Accidents in the
Mining areas
What about the many accidents which happened in coal mines which has also taken the lives of many miners? The mining accidents were serious cases because not only human lives were lost, but the mining activity itself was illegal when it happened. Has anybody involved in the tragic incidents been arrested? Or maybe the investigation was stopped midway or was rather prolonged because those who lost their lives were poor miners whose lives have no value at all. Maybe the investigation is now shoved under the carpet because the mine owners need to be protected. What takes the agencies so long to investigate on these very important cases which have grabbed headlines across the country? Now that the incidents are no longer in the news, people have started forgetting about the unfortunate deaths. But how many more mining accidents does it take for the police take these cases seriously?
It is obvious that the government is not serious in its effort to solve these cases, bring to book the culprits and let justice prevail.
Brichyrnot mining
Permission
The decision of the Government to recommend that permission be given to the cement companies to start mining of limestone at Brichyrnot is another case which brought to light the true colours of the MDA government. Despite the fact that the cement company’s carbon footprints are huge as it produces roughly about 8% of all greenhouse gas in comparison with aviation industry which produces 2.4%, yet the Government continues to support these industries. Most of the emission in the cement plants do not come from burning coal but from heating limestone inside giant kilns but the government is not considering the effects that this will has on the people.
Despite public protests the Government’s decision to recommend to the authorities concerned to allow mining of limestone in the area is a classic case of putting corporate interests before the welfare of its people.
Mushrooming of
Coke factories
Another case of the MDA government’s insensitivity to the cause of the environment and even the health of the people of the state is the setting up of new coke factories in different parts of the state. It is reported that 30 of the more than 40 coke plants under construction in the East Jañtia hills district are already in operation. Coke is produced by heating coal at high temperatures, for long periods of time. The process is also called “thermal distillation” or “pyrolysis” and it takes 15-18 hours or sometime it can take up to 36 hours to complete the process. Now why does Meghalaya need so many of these coke factories which release toxic smoke in the air around its location? Who benefits from these factories and more importantly what effects is it going to have on the people who live in these areas?
MDA’s gift to the NPP
The MDA government has somehow been able to gift itself or the parent party of the coalition a piece of Government land in a prime location of the state capital. In fact, construction work of the party office has already started in the location with many trees removed from the area. Perhaps knowing the entity and identity of the contractor engaged in the construction of the Party’s office will also be able to connect us to the construction of one of the major projects in Meghalaya.
The question that people are now asking is – Can the MDA government achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals when it is also discreetly supporting illegal coal mining in the state? Attempting to achieve the SDGs will remain a joke if the government continues to support mining and encourages setting up of more coke factories in the state.
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