SHILLONG: The undulating meadows of Sutgna, about 131 km from here in the
East Khasi Hills district
, once lush with terraced rice fields, is today a dusty and muddy basin. The beautiful
East Khasi Hills
landscape-housing two assembly constituencies-has been left scarred and barren with deep craters to boot.
Years of rampant mining of coal has robbed Sutgna and several other areas in the Jaintia Hills bordering Bangladesh, of its greenery and livelihood. Ever since coal mining-in fact the most unscientific rat-hole mining for black gold-took off in the 1970s in the then undivided Jaintia Hills, the economy of the place in particular, and that of Meghalaya as a whole, has been intrinsically linked to the extraction of this mineral. Locals prospered even at the cost of the environment and loss of lives.
The scenario changed when the National Green Tribunal banned rat-hole and other forms of illegal coal mining in the state. While the ecology got a breather, the impact of the ban shook the economy, affected the livelihoods of many and the rumblings were reflected in politics.
As Meghalaya readies for the February 27 assembly polls, the issue of the ban on coal mining has taken centre stage again. The ban no doubt left thousands jobless who now vent their anger on political parties-Congress in particular-during whose rule the ban came into force. Their grouse is that no alternative livelihood options were worked out by the government when the ban was imposed.
Congress working president and MP Vincent Pala said, "People think the government banned mining, but it is not true. The government followed the court's order. We have explained to the people and now they are supporting us."
However, it was a great challenge for Congress to go to the people with their side of the story. For one, its support base had eroded in the coal-mining areas of the Jaintia and Garo Hills. The two regions alone account for 31 of the 60 seats in the assembly-seven in the Jaintia Hills and 24 in the Garo Hills.
Congress insiders said
Rahul Gandhi's first visit to the northeast after taking over as the AICC president last month, was to boost the morale of the party workers in the Jaintia Hills. On January 30, Rahul went to Jowai, 60 km from here and the headquarters of the
West Jaintia Hills
district, where he interacted with over 1,000 Congress leaders and workers.
Sensing the anger of the people and the fact that the ruling party is on a sticky wicket here, BJP and the National People's Party have tried to fill in the void and made this an electoral issue promising voters they would see if scientific ways could be evolved to keep the livelihoods of the people intact. BJP has promised to resume coal mining within 180 days of coming to power, while ensuring that there are no harmful environmental fallouts.
NPP, an ally of the NDA at the Centre, which has emerged as the main challenger to Congress, said the party is seriously raising the issue of mining with the people. Erwin K Syiem Sutgna, who once spearheaded the movement for providing livelihoods to the people, is now an NPP candidate for the North Shillong ST reserved assembly seat. He said migration of the rural population to urban areas increased 'manifold' after the ban. "We have to find a solution to the problem. NPP is serious and actively pursuing the issue. Thousands are jobless now," Sutgna said.
"Mining was banned because it was being done in an unscientific way. If we do it scientifically, it could boost the state's economy and help solve the state's unemployment problem," BJP spokesperson Basu Chakraborty said.
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