Tripura, a state in India’s North East, has had to shut down schools on account of the heat wave that has hit several states in the country. In Maharashtra, 11 people died of heat stroke on Sunday while attending an award function in an open field where Union Home Minister, Amit Shah was present. West Bengal has also shut down its schools much before the summer holidays starting every year in mid May. The weather in Meghalaya too has been uncharacteristically hot in the daytime. The day temperature in Shillong city on Monday was 29 degrees Celsius. The fluctuation between the day and night temperature in Meghalaya has seen many people falling ill. Climate change is here and it is real and being experienced by all. The dry spell with just a short spell of rains between the last week of March and the first week of April has created an unfavourable pattern for farmers who complain that there were no rains in December and none at all in March except for a very brief spell.
Climate Change which is being experienced by all should draw attention to a few issues. One of them being massive deforestation that has turned the forests into patches of barren ground with only the tree stumps left behind. Meghalaya has banned charcoal production but every day several pick-up vans drive from one locality to the other selling sacks of charcoal. So the ban by the Department of Environment and Forests actually remains only a paper tiger. The Nokrek biosphere in Garo Hills is being built to attract tourists without thinking of the larger consequences of such actions. Nokrek is an eco-sensitive zone that should be left alone but the craze for building tourism facilities has overridden ecological concerns. Water sources that used to supply water to residents in Shillong city are depleting at a rapid rate. Many localities are now dependent on water tanks. Meghalaya has power cuts due to the depletion of the water level in the Umiam Lake and other sources like the Leshka project which was initially intended to augment power during these dry spells.
The worst affected by the dry and hot spells are farmers whose summer crops have dried up due to the harsh winds exacerbated by the extreme day temperature which is predicted by the Meteorological Department to touch 30 degree Celsius on Wednesday in Shillong. This was unheard of in the past. People would complain of feeling very hot when the mercury touched 24-26 degree Celsius. Now they will have to deal with the new weather phenomena.
One reason for climate change is anthropogenic activities. In the case of Meghalaya, unregulated deforestation, quarrying and mining have taken a severe toll on the environment. Unfortunately, the State is yet to wake up and take a call on this matter of life and death. Meghalaya is unprepared to deal with the Climate Emergency.