SHILLONG: The proposed amendment to the Meghalaya Catchment Areas Act, 1990 is still awaiting clearance from the Planning department which has been holding the file for nearly two years now.
When asked about the reason for this inordinate delay on the part of the concerned department, Forest and Environment Minister, Prestone Tynsong on Sunday said, “The department is examining if there is a possibility for the State Government to acquire all the lands which fall under the catchment areas since it will be a futile exercise to declare an area as catchment area if the Government does not have a say over it,”
Tynsong added that the Government will try to incorporate this provision in the proposed amendment to the Catchment Areas Act.
Meanwhile, official sources said that the Government intends to identify the various catchment areas as critical and non-critical in order to priortise its efforts to protect such areas. It may be mentioned that the Meghalaya Protection of Catchment Area Act, 1990 has been almost rendered toothless by the land tenure system prevalent in the state.
