By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Oct 20: The Centre is delaying clearance of the state government’s Rs 600-crore plan to protect and clean the waterbodies, including the Wahumkhrah River.
“We submitted a scheme to protect the Wahumkhrah and at the same time clean the river, but unfortunately the central government did not sanction the scheme. As of right now, we are trying to contact the people from the Ministry,” Water Resources Minister, Comingone Ymbon said on Friday.
“If we do not get sanction how can we go ahead from the state government’s side; it is difficult as we do not have that kind of money,” the minister stated.
Nonetheless, he stated that the department is persistently pursuing the issue with the Ministry.
He acknowledged that encroachment is occurring alongside water bodies such as Umiam Lake and Wahumkhrah River and stated that the state government is implementing measures to guarantee its neutralisation.
He stated that the government has also given the people a scheme to preserve the forest for Rs 15,000 per hectare in order to protect the catchment areas.
He noted that because the High Court of Meghalaya has been issuing directives from time to time, people are well-aware of the dos and don’ts.
The High Court on Thursday instructed the state government to make sure that the natural beauty and aesthetics surrounding waterbodies in the state are not jeopardised in the name of development or only for the purpose of allowing private construction to come up.