Shillong, Nov. 11: The Mait Shaphrang Movement recently sent a petition to Union minister for environment and forests, Jairam Ramesh, and sought his intervention to save Meghalaya “from an impending catastrophe”.
Mait Shaphrang Movement convenor, Michael Syiem, in his letter to Ramesh, also submitted the right to information (RTI) findings on charcoal-based ferro-alloy industries in the state.
“We appreciate the Centre’s commitment to bring about faster development to the Northeast through industrialisation by giving incentives such as tax holidays and subsidies. However, after nearly eight years of their commencement of production, the industries have not produced the desired result as is evident from the RTI findings,” the letter said.
Syiem also said the revenue generated to the state had so far been negative after deducting the state’s subsidies given to these industries.
“While employment for locals in the industries is negligible, the most negative impact on the environment caused by these industries is the rampant felling of trees for producing charcoal to the tune of more than half a million metric tonnes in less than eight years,” he said.
“If no action is taken at the earliest, Meghalaya will soon be without any forest cover, spelling doom for the whole state in many aspects,” Syiem said.
“Therefore, on behalf of all citizens of Meghalaya, we strongly seek your immediate intervention to save our state from an impending catastrophe,” he said in the letter.
In September, the Mait Shaphrang Movement unearthed huge irregularities in the functioning of charcoal-based industries in the state that use charcoal after cutting down trees, violating the Supreme Court order.
The government also incurred loss of revenue by granting permission to these industries to set up ferro-alloy units with huge financial subsidies.
According to the RTI findings, the Movement had revealed that the state government was giving subsidy to as many as 11 charcoal-based industries set up in Ri Bhoi district without any profit.
The findings also indicated that the forest cover in West Khasi Hills, Ri Bhoi and Jaintia Hills were denuded because of rampant felling of trees to provide charcoal to the industries.
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