By Patricia Mukhim
It would be wrong to imagine that Meghalaya is populated by people having similar hopes and aspirations and who are afflicted by the same set of problems. No, Meghalaya is today a divided society. Those who keep repeating the word ‘jaitbynriew’ ad nauseum and carry out all kinds of subversive activities in our name had better take notice because when they take up a cause they have to define which group they represent. Jaitbynriew is no longer a homogenous, monochromatic term where all are equal and have the same needs and aspirations. Meghalaya is a heterogeneous society, divided into the haves, the have-nots and the have-some. The ‘haves’ control the politics and economy of the state. The have-nots struggle to eke out a daily existence and the have-some (middle class) are on a frenetic journey to reach the status of the ‘haves.’
It is in this situation that Meghalaya has always headed for elections. The have-nots form the largest chunk of voters and are therefore cleverly identified and extended help at the beginning of the school year when Rs 5000 would go a long way in paying for the school books and initial fees just so kids can enter the sanctum sanctorum of a school. After that initial admission parents will then scrape and scrounge and perhaps approach the MLA they elected so they can pay the second installment of school fees. And this goes on until the end of term when the school fees have to be cleared for the child to get his/her report card. The MLA who extends such help has a record of those names and during elections he/she holds that beneficiary of his/her patronage to account. The beneficiary is expected to vote for his/her patron, for who knows what the new person will be like.
The money for such patronage is siphoned off from the MLA scheme. Hence no MLA will want to give an account of how the MLA scheme is utilised. I recall how one MLA in a semi-urban constituency showed that he paid money for cow-dung to his constituents and this was just a few weeks before the polling date. When it comes to such ingenuity none can beat our politicians. They are a class apart.
Now coming to some of the issues that have surfaced this week one heaves a sigh of relief that the High Court of Meghalaya has directed the State Government to clean up the Umkhrah and Umshyrpi rivers. As expected the State Government is quick to point to the District Council for reneging on its duty to keep the rivers cleans since these rivers ostensibly are within their jurisdiction. At one time, the Khasi Hills District Council had got an amount of Rs 50 lakhs to clean the Wah Umkhrah. That money was disbursed to the MDCs through whose constituencies the river flows. Some moving and shaking happened and then everything was forgotten. The Umkhrah continues to be the repository of solid waste flowing in from feeder rivulets upstream. The Wah Umkaliar which the group – Operation Clean-up – of which this writer is a member, has been cleaning since 2019, regularly belches up huge amounts of garbage comprising clothes, nappies with the gel oozing out, sanitary napkins et al. One has to visit the Umkaliar upstream towards Umpling to see how both sides of the river are littered with garbage. This garbage in turn comes from Nongrah, Lapalang, and Rynjah through Umpling, Nongmynsong to the Umkaliar and thence to the Wah Umkhrah. The District Council in Meghalaya is all about politics as the Councillors bide their time to enter the State Assembly. None of them take their election as MDCs seriously. Not once have we seen a policy developed by the District Councils that are in larger public interest. Other than constructing footpaths we see no evidence of their work.
This passing of the buck between the District Councils and the State Government as far as cleaning up of rivers is concerned needs to be resolved by the High Court. If the Councils are to be tasked with cleaning the rivers then pray what is the brief of the State Water Resources Department? It is obvious that cleaning up the two rivers right from their source requires a water-tight action plan, robust monitoring and accountability and fining of the polluters. The Councils don’t have the resources to take up this responsibility. To ensure that the Dorbar Shnongs too don’t pass the buck there have to be mechanisms to ensure that garbage emanating from one shnong (locality) does not flow on to the next shnong. It is precisely to discuss this issue that the Operation Clean-up group had requested the Deputy Commissioner, East Khasi Hills to convene a meeting of the headmen from the localities through which the feeder streams to the Wah Umkhrah and Umshyrpi flow so that they can take individual responsibility.
It would also be in the larger public interest for the High Court of Meghalaya to take cognisance of other rivers within Greater Shillong area that were once sources of drinking water but have now become garbage dumps and sewers. I am referring to the River Umkhen. On a recent visit to Umphyrnai village I took the short cut down through Jyntah village and had to cross the Umkhen River to Umpling. It was a shocking sight. The whole stretch of the river was loaded with garbage. And right next to the river is a crematorium. How is this even allowed? And then at Umphyrnai one sees a huge stone quarry belonging to none other than a minister of the MDA Government. There is the River Umkhen below which is obviously nourished by the forests upstream. If those forests are denuded to allow quarrying then is it any wonder why the Umkhen is now a poor shadow of itself…almost forcing itself to flow its course?
In all of this you begin to wonder what the State Pollution Control Board is actually doing and whether they even visit these places. What are they drawing their salaries for? Is it just to give clearance to cement plants and other industries or do their terms of reference also include the prevention of pollution of rivers, streams and the entire physical environment in the state? If they think this is beyond their jurisdiction then let them state that upfront so that citizens can petition the Court for an alternative oversight body to clean up the environment.
In Meghalaya, Climate Change is a word bandied around by those manning the Department of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. It is not for nothing that the words Environment and Climates Change have been added to the word ‘Forest’ in the nomenclature of the Department/Ministry. But how serious are the people in charge of this Department? Don’t they only look at forests as a potential source of revenue? Otherwise why have a commercial wing called the Forest Development Corporation whose brief is to dispose of fallen trees? But we also know that the bulk of trees from reserved forests are humanly engineered to ‘fall’ so they can be smuggled off.
Meghalaya must be the one state where forests are redefined to allow forest land to be effortlessly alienated for the purpose of coal extraction. The nexus is such that big business is in league with politicians and the bureaucracy to rob this state of an environment where future citizens can live and breathe.
While the poor struggle to make ends meet in an eco-system that is increasingly turning into a threat to their existence, the rich (politicians, the business cartel and a section of the bureaucracy) are laughing their way to the bank. There is no system of checks and balances. At this rate Meghalaya is on a rapid downhill slide. The State had initiated the setting up of two medical colleges ten years ago. These are still in the realm of pipe dreams even while neighbouring Assam has just inaugurated its 8th medical college and is set to have 14 more medical colleges by 2025. Does Meghalaya ever set such ambitious goals for itself? No, that’s asking for too much. But like I said, perhaps we deserve the government we connived to elect.