Contamination and change in colour of water body
note on the contamination of the Lukha river, the famous river under Narpuh Elaka in East Jaintia Hills district, the Khasi Student Union (KSU), Narpuh Circle has demanded an independent inquiry into the matter.
The river changes its colour annually in between November and February killing thousands of fishes and other aquatic life in the whole stretch of the river from Brishyrnot till Borsora.
Speaking to media persons during the inspection of the river on Friday, KSU Narpuh Circle president, Cyrous Lamare said, “The government should appoint experts from the North Eastern Hills University and RGIIM, Shillong in the team to enquire into the matter”.
He also threatened to take the matter to the court if the government failed to act on their demand.
The KSU leader in Narpuh also stated that the people in Narpuh Elaka did not support the view that the unnatural discoloration of the Lukha river killing thousand of fishes annually was due to coal mining activities.
“There are many dead rivers in Jaintia Hills, due to coal mining such as Kupli, Myntdu and many others. These river never turn blue in colour”, he said, adding that coal mining has started in the late 70s in East Jaintia and the Lukha river was never been affected.
“The queer phenomenon was first reported in 2007, few years after several cement plants came up in the area. Since then the Lukha river was affected and the pestilence occurred annually between November and February”, he added.
Meanwhile, an Environment activist from Jaintia Hills is of the view that the State government should issue a strong order to cement plants operation under Narpuh Elaka to invest through the industries’ corporate social responsibility (CRS) for reclamation of the river.
Villagers of the area who are dependent of the rivers, are now facing hardship as they can not use the river water for any purpose.
The river contamination has affected several villages all along the river bank including Brishyrnot, Sakhri, Tongseng Narpuh, Sunapur (Sunapyrdi), Shymphlong besides others.
