SHILLONG, Nov 13 � Meghalaya�s beautiful environment has been �sacrificed at the altar of money,� to satiate the greed of an elite group in the community, Suman Sahai, an agro-biodiversity expert said here.
�The glory and beauty of Meghalaya, which is its environment and rich biodiversity has been sacrificed for a few elite people of this generation who are continuing with rampant unscientific mining in the State,� Sahai who was here in the city recently, told The Assam Tribune.
The future of several generations is being denied. This is injustice of the worst kind and due to this anomaly several generations would suffer,� the environmentalist, who was appointed Knight in the Royal Order of the Golden Ark by Netherland Government for her contribution towards the environment, said.
Touching on Meghalaya�s unique land tenure system, Sahai said, the system must have worked wonderfully, as the community took collective responsibility to protect their land and the environment, but things seem to have changed.
�The system that worked earlier is being abused by a group of elite among the community for their greed and it now seems to have become a case of self-destruction,� Sahai, who also heads a research and advocacy organisation, Gene Campaign, added.
She said that the unscientific mining being practiced in the State is causing tremendous harm to the environment. �The mining industry is responsible for large scale deforestation and emission of dangerous gases and chemicals into the environment,� Sahai, who is also a scientist, said.
According to Sahai, environment protection and development can complement each other. She said that scientific mining reduces the harmful effects of mining to a large extent and these modern methods must be explored.
Meghalaya recently announced that the Mineral policy it has adopted would be operational next year. The policy, however, kept the rat-hole coal mining intact saying it would cause major upheaval if it is done away with, much to the chagrin of environmentalists.
On the overall environment, Sahai said that global warming remains a concern for all nations, although the industrial nations like US and other European countries are the biggest emitters of Greenhouse gases.
However, she said that India, although not a big emitter of such gases, must nonetheless, take collective responsibility and help fight degradation of the environment by further adopting enviornmnetal safeguards.
