Watching the earth-cutting along the Pynursla-Dawki four-lane road makes scientists and seismologists wonder if Meghalaya really needs this road which cuts through fragile hills with deep gorges on the side. Already this unfinished road project has claimed five lives and injured a few people. The hills look unstable as if they are pulled out from under their roots. It is unclear as to what is intended to achieve through this four-laning work when the coal export from East Jaintia Hills to Bangladesh (if and when the scientific mining begins) does not need to pass through this highway. What exactly are the formal exports and imports passing through this highway other than boulders and sand? And up to what point will boulders be exported to Bangladesh? Are those custodians of forests waiting until every forest in this state turns barren?
In December last year the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) stated that Meghalaya lost 84.07 sq km of forest cover between 2021 and 2023. Despite the shocking statistics the Government has remained a silent observer. What is debilitating about Meghalaya’s governance is that the Autonomous District Councils which are mandated to be the custodians of forests, rivers and minerals in the entire state barring the reserved forests and the areas under the Municipalities appear to be floundering and seem to have given up on their supervisory roles as the prime conservators of forests which are the prime catchments. The District Councils appear helpless to stop rampant quarrying because their claim is that they have no control over forests owned by individual clans and communities. So, have the Councils then forgone their control over forests which are our lifeline? Is this not a major failure? The Autonomous Councils are envisaged as instruments of self-governance so that tribals who are a minority in this country do not lose their land and resources to the exploitative forces and corporations from the rest of India. But this vision appears to have been short-circuited since the exploiters today are not forces from outside Meghalaya but the tribals themselves. In the name of livelihoods rampant quarrying and mining without any checks and balances are threatening to turn Meghalaya into a desert.
Quarrying in different parts of Ri Bhoi district especially places adjacent to Assam at Jorabat where the once green and forested hills have now been gouged out so that boulders and sand can be sold onwards to Assam and other states for construction purposes without any concern, are a present danger. The highway at Jorabat is regularly flooded and causes interminable delays for commuters but the Meghalaya Government seems oblivious of this new threat. Neither are the District Councils bothered. A petitioner from Assam has approached the Supreme Court on this issue with maps that show the entire hill on which the University of Science and Technology is constructed and other areas adjoining it are certified to be forests at one time. The Government of Meghalaya ought to take stock of the situation before this state experiences environmental shocks such as massive landslides as are happening in Darjeeling and Himachal Pradesh. The environment is an unforgiving foe.
