Shillong, May 1: Four lawyers from East Jaiñtia Hills have threatened to move the National Green Tribunal and the Meghalaya High Court against the Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board (MSPCB) if it goes ahead with the proposed public hearing on May 22 for the limestone mining project of Shree Cement Limited at Lum Syrman.
The four lawyers – Dawanmon Pachiang, Jimmy Pdang, Fedrick Muliar and Babulme Sympli – in a petition to the Member Secretary of MSPCB said that their primary objection is to safeguard the Litein River, as the proposed mining site boundary directly abuts the river “posing an imminent and irreversible threat to its ecology, aquatic life, and overall environmental integrity.”
“The buffer zone of the proposed mine substantially overlaps with the river and adjoining paddy fields, placing both the river’s ecosystem and agricultural livelihood in grave danger,” the four lawyers said in the petition.
They also stated that the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) itself admitted that water bodies including the Litein River will be impacted.
Citing the EIA report, the lawyers said that the buffer zone of the proposed mine practically engulfs the Litein River, making the river highly vulnerable to pollution discharge, siltation, and run off contamination. They also said that there is all possibility that Litein and other rivers will be used as a drainage if the mining takes place.
According to them, unless a minimum buffer zone of 1 km from the river bank is strictly enforced, the project is environmentally untenable.
The lawyers also revealed the misrepresentation and contradictions in the EIA report and the Terms of Reference (TOR). They said that TOR claimed that no rivers, streams or reserved forest are located within 10 km whereas the EIA contradicted this by stating that Litein River is at the boundary of the mining site and Saipung Reserve Forest is located within 4 km.
They also stated that the proposed mining project was wrongly categorised under Category B1 whereas the lease area of 217.394 hectares clearly falls under Category A, requiring environmental appraisal at the central level.
The lawyers also mentioned the various threats to the local ecology and biodiversity of Lum Syrman including damage to the groundwater tables if the proposed limestone mining is allowed.
“We trust that the Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board will act in accordance with law and environmental justice to protect the Litein River and the people dependent on it. The Board, as the statutory guardian of environmental protection, must act decisively to safeguard one of the few remaining, clear and living rivers of East Jaiñtia Hills,” the lawyers said.