Tura, Feb 19: Once known for being one of the greenest parts of the country, Garo Hills has been ravaged by spate of human acts that has led to it not only losing the mantle but also now struggling to manage climate change and its water reserves.
Many parts of Garo Hills, including forests protected by the state government, have been ravaged by a multitude of factors, with timber smuggling, encroachment as well as traditional farming being one of the principal problems that have contributed to loss of the green cover in Garo Hills.
Most forest reserves of the region, including those in East Garo Hills (Rongjeng, Darugre, Rongrenggre) have been ripped off its high-value timber through the machinations by some unscrupulous locals in conduit with timber smugglers from outside the state, mostly from neighbouring Assam. Further, these reserves have also faced encroachments by settlers, some of who have managed to get electricity lines into their occupied lands within the reserves.
Rongrenggre faces another unique problem along with the extensive deforestation. It has huge reserves of coal by the side of the river that runs through it. This coal has been incessantly extracted by locals and illegally exported out of the Reserve. The foresters, every year, have been filling these illegal pits though, until some concrete steps are taken, the situation is likely to remain unchanged.
In North Garo Hills, the Kharkutta and Chimunbanghi Reserves, too, face a similar threat. The once lush forests have become sparse with most of its high value timber (sal and teak) having been felled.
The damage has been so devastating that finding trees in these reserves has become more of a treasure hunt. Further the extent of encroachment that has taken place within the Reserves has to be seen to be believed.
“People are clearing trees within these forests and then claiming the lands as their own. While the forest can be redone, we first need to reclaim the lands that have been forcefully taken over and ensure it remains protected as it was before,” said the DFO of NGH, Sathish K, during a conversation on the situation earlier.
West Garo Hills faces a rather more acute problem. While the district boasts of only a few small forest reserves (Dibru Hills for one), the situation has become dire for most parts. Water scarcity, once an afterthought, has become the burning issue for the people.
The Nokrek biosphere, once the pride of the area, has been taken over by plantations that have affected most of the water sources, leading to towns like Tura facing drought every year.
Efforts towards conservation of catchment areas have been made by the district administration but that seems to have not changed ground water levels or the drought-like situation. A more concerted and tighter effort has to be made to win the war against the massive deforestation taking place. Scenes of deforestation as well as monoculture can be seen even from the town itself, indicating how hapless the situation really has become.
On another level, the entire Garo Hills region faces the annual issue with forest clearance for subsistence farming practices.
While it may have been sustainable with a smaller population, the booming population has led to the lengthier recovery period for the forest. This has also dried up water sources.
One of the greatest menaces faced by WGH is the growing cases of timber smuggling, mostly towards the plain belt from the hilly areas. While the plains are mostly occupied by non-indigenous people, the hills belong to natives.
At the last count, the entire stretch between New Hallidayganj to Tikrikilla houses more than 100 illegal saw mills. These mills have been working non-stop to the lucrative timber trade and led to hills being denuded, albeit with connivance with many of those that have been posted for its protection.
The impunity of such acts in the plain-belt areas has become such that illegal timber is carried through the day, in front of forest, police or district authorities even during the day.
“There is a sense of helplessness and anger at what is happening here. There are departments meant to protect our forests and these are failing us big time. If this continues for another few years, the situation may just become non reversible. We can already feel the effects of climate change,” said a resident of Phulbari, SR Sangma.
When contacted on the situation, a GHADC forest official, requesting anonymity, said that they were helpless as despite their efforts, the mills would continue to function.
“There are so many places where we have raided and confiscated mills. However despite our efforts, within a few days, the same mill restarts. There is no fear of being caught by the smugglers who have very deep links with leaders. How else can we account for such burgeoning infrastructure coming,” he said.
He further added that there were places they feared to go as locals attacked them despite them going with police parties.
“Sometimes, they are given information of a raid prior to it happening or at times locals, mostly hired by the smugglers or sawmill owners, come to their rescue. There have been attacks on us when we tried to enact the law despite us taking two vans of policemen,” said the GHADC forester.
Meghalaya still boasts of over 76 per cent of forest cover on paper. However, while that may be, to an extent, true, the fact in reality is that what was once dense forests has turned sparse.
The forest cover survey by the government has never taken that into account; the digital images provide a false sense of security of forest lands.