Meghalaya panel preparing action plan to restore waterbodies

Districts asked to rectify the number of waterbodies in the lists submitted earlier

GUWAHATI:

An expert committee will soon submit an action plan for the restoration of polluted waterbodies in Meghalaya.

Unscientific coal and limestone mining, stone quarrying and the release of industrial, commercial and domestic waste are the prime causes of pollution of the State’s waterbodies.

The Meghalaya government had set up the 10-member expert panel on the protection and restoration of the State’s waterbodies on June 23, following an order of the High Court of Meghalaya. The committee is headed by the State’s Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, B.K. Lyngwa.

“We are in the process of formulating the action plan for submitting to the government soon,” he said after a meeting of the committee a few days ago.

Members of the panel said the authorities of each district had prepared a list of waterbodies before the committee was formed. However, the total of 10,201 waterbodies identified across the State was found to be erroneous. The “distorted figures” were attributed to fish ponds counted by the districts.

The expert committee had asked the districts to submit a new list barring 53 wetlands under the State Wetland Authority and seven rivers under the River Rejuvenation Committee (RRC). These rivers are Umkhrah, Umshyrpi, Kyrhokhla, Nongbah, Umtrew, Lukha, and Myntdu.