By Wandell Passah
The Sunday ST heading “Too early to call Lukha river’s revival a success” (ST April 17, 2022, has come to a conclusive piece of news. The politicians, ministers and bureaucrats had thrown all the rules and acts diligently framed by those with concern for the environment, to the bin and given clearance to Star Cement to start production by 2001. Across the world people know that cement plants are the most notorious polluters.
Cement manufacturing pollutes the environment in three ways. (1)It uses coal for the kiln and though the chimney is an electrostatics precipitator device, one ton of coal dust a day would be disposed of and there’s no denying that it finally gets into the water outlet. And I do doubt if such chimneys are being used as no judicious inspection has ever been carried out. (2) Coal is needed in huge quantities if plants are honest enough to use captive power plants of their own so as not to tax domestic electricity grids, especially with India being power starved. (3) One MT of cement needs 2 lakhs litres of water. Please look at drinking water problems in Meghalaya especially in coal belts. (4) Gypsum is the main component of cement. And it is a great worry for the National Industrial Occupational Safety Hazards.
With all these well known facts which IAS officers could not have been unaware of Star Cement was awarded the license to operate. The Environment Protection Act (EPA) has been in place since 1986. But even after 2001 license after license was granted to nine more cement companies with 4 being clubbed to Star Cement. By then the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was already in place and conscience should have prompted those in charge of ensuring environmental clearances to go slow and reduce the production capacity of the 5 other plants gradually so as not to be too harsh to the companies and then let them pack up and leave. That way the environment would have been rejuvenated.
But contrary to all these clear writings on the wall, when the Lukha turned blue in 2007 after 6 years of cement production, Star Cement blamed the rat hole mining and our enlightened concerned agencies also endorsed it. At the time a team from the Zoology and Chemistry department of St Edmunds College rushed to Lukha to find the pH content of the Lukha River at 3.5 and the PPM (particles per million) at 3 too little for aquatic life to survive. The report was forwarded to Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board (MSPCB) whose director then was a past pupil of St Edmund’s College. Well, we understood the problem of why the report was not accepted. Firstly, the team from St Edmund’s College was non-governmental by nature and the report was damning to say the least. Officers have to walk on thin red lines, hence to persuade the MSPCB to have our report tabled would put the officer in jeopardy.
Hence Star Cement was cleared of all controversy. By 2015 -16, the Lukha was not only incapable of sustaining aquatic life but it also turns abrasive (probably because of calcium sulphate from gypsum which in water turns blue).
At long last the MSPCB took the trouble to find out once and for all as to why the Lukha turns blue.” So in 2017, the Board invited a senior scientist of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) New Delhi, Mr Mukul Chatopadhyay to investigate the matter. A preliminary investigation proved elusive. But with long experience in investigations, the scientist proceeded right to the source of the Lukha, entailing a travel of around 25 Km into Saipung village. A downward survey revealed that all the tributaries from areas where rat hole mining were and are being carried out had clear water flowing through them. The water turns blue when the Lukha meets the Lunar River that carries all the human and industrial wastes of cement factories.
This finding nullified the claims of Star Cement. But the Company has with time appeared to be acting aggressively and to have become more influential with the passage of time. It looked as if the Company controlled everyone in government. Thus from 2017 till 2022 April, the findings of Dr Chatopadhyay were also shelved to protect those in government who have connived with Star Cement.
Sadder is the fact that Environment Minister, James Sangma landed early in 2021 at the banks of the Lukha. In the huge gathering of people of Narpuh region, he promised (of course in English) that sooner or later, he would bring Israeli and German scientists to treat the acidity or blue with what he called ‘algae ‘treatment. Algae treats the ammonia, phosphates and nitrates and not the acidity or blue of water.
So these are my questions :- (1)Why did MSPCB shelve the report of CPCB’s Scientist, and failed to make it public, (2) Let’s suppose we believe the Minister, then when are the German and Israeli scientists coming to treat the Lukha with ‘algae?’ (3)The slight improvement of the Lukha in recent times might be due to the huge downpour in recent months. And this will improve with the coming monsoon. The question is, will Lukha ever be cleansed to eternity come the dry winter months?
The fact is that our environment was and is completely devastated. And our philanthropist Bill Gates had donated to COP 26.5 billion dollars, so that part of that money would go towards getting rid of traditional cement plants, to be replaced with Green Cement factories. Yes, the green premium will hike the cement price to 70% per bag. But human life is worth more than the 70% increase in cement price, for, of what use are the cheap apartments and buildings when the occupants are dead?
People of Lumshnong, to be followed by Brichyrnot will need to find alternate dwelling places. The axiom, “You cannot have the cake and eat it too” was perhaps never understood. We live today in a world where all values and ethics are trampled under our feet. The EPA, EIA and MoEFCC are deceptive abbreviations. They have killed the Lukha River. And if the MDA Government comprising the NPP, UDP, HSPDP, BJP is given another chance then we will continue to slide down into a bottomless pit and we will regret the day we fought for statehood.
(The writer is former teacher, St Edmund’s College)