SHILLONG: The chairman of the State Programme Implementation and Monitoring Committee and state Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president, Saleng Sangma, has questioned the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and the state government for not taking enough measures to preserve and promote the flora and fauna of the state.
Speaking to media persons here on Tuesday, Saleng Sangma, who is also the state president of NCP, said the NGT should concentrate more on bad-effects of deforestation and other related sectors in the state rather than focusing only on coal mining.
“Everybody is after mining. What is making people so interested about mining,” he questioned.
Citing an example of Mawsynram and Sohra, which once received highest rainfall, he lamented that these two places are now becoming dry places due to random cutting and slaughtering of trees.
The statement came from Saleng Sangma as the recent Indian State of Forest Report 2019 has revealed that the country’s forest cover is rising but the forest cover in the North East, including Meghalaya, unfortunately, is on decline.
The India State of Forest Report, 2019 released in December, had said that Meghalaya has 17,119 sq km of forest and it has declined by 27 sq km since 2017 when the report was released last.
The forest cover in the North East marked a decline of 765 sq km compared to 2017.
Asking the NGT to intervene into the matters of protecting environment and stopping the cutting of forests in the state, Sangma said it is high time that the NGT as well as the state government should take measures to stop felling of trees.
“Is the NGT afraid or they, too, have vested interest in mining and why they have no interest in plants and trees,” he said.
He also said that the state government needs to do much more as far as protecting the environment and greenery of the state is concerned.
“In Middle East, people are planting tree saplings in deserts whereas we just have to preserve the forests but we are not being able to do so,” he added.
