Shillong: The committee constituted to prepare a roadmap for the preservation of Umiam Lake, located in north Shillong, has decided to carry-out a site inspection on March 1 to assess the ground reality.
Umiam is one of Meghalaya’s oldest reservoirs created in the 1960s by damming the Umiam river.
The meeting was attended by different departments like Forest and Environment, Power, Tourism, Fisheries, State Pollution Control Board, Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council among others.
Commissioner and Secretary of Forest and Environment Department Syed Md Razi said a preliminary plan has been chalked out and the next step will be to visit the reservoir to look at issues affecting it.
“After physical inspection, the committee will meet again and, hopefully, we will be able to come up with a good, viable solution to preserve the reservoir and its purity for all the citizens of the state,” Razi said.
Razi said today’s meeting was more about chalking out a preliminary plan so they could try to identify various issues which are afflicting the water quality. All departments gave their inputs. A more concrete plan would take share after the physical inspection, he added.
Meanwhile, Environmentalist Naba Bhatacharjee said that since there are major factors polluting the river, they will look at both long and short measures which will be drawn out.
“All the departments, stakeholders, particularly the civil society, have to be taken on board to make it a success. While we take care of Umiam lake, one can’t ignore Wahumkhrah and Umshyrpi Once we take care of these two, automatically the others also will be taken care of,” said Bhatacharjee.
The environmentalist added that shifting of Marten landfill is also another important measure they will have to look into.
“I have suggested that without going to the site, we can’t come to a decision which everyone agreed upon. This will be a long-term process and can’t be achieved in one day but the process should start now before it’s too late,” stated Bhatacharjee.
The committee was constituted following the High Court’s order, which had stated that the state government has to chalk out a road map for the preservation of the larger waterbody and the smaller seasonal ones around the lake and demarcate zones where construction can be permitted at a distance of 150 to 200 meters from the edge of the water at its highest level and subject to conditions pertaining to sewage not seeping into the Umiam waters.
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