It was shocking to read how a foreign company, Lafarge Surma Cement was allowed to run an illegal mining operation in Meghalaya for so many years (“The big black hole”, April 8). One of the reasons, perhaps, is because the North East region is cut off from the rest of India which does not get to know what is happening there or perhaps, does not care.
Even NGOs and environmental groups appear to have very little time for what is happening there. The question here is what is more important for the country: sending raw materials to Bangladesh or protecting the fragile environment of the North East. Already, there are reports that Cherrapunji, the wettest place in the world, is turning into a wet desert because of the changing ecology of the region.
The Ministry of Environment has a lot to account for because it appears to have ignored the warnings sounded by several senior forest officials about the illegal mining activity by Lafarge. We must be grateful that at least the judiciary is finally taking the issue of environmental protection seriously, although the Supreme Court allowed the company to continue mining in November 2007. The media needs to be even more vigilant on such issues.
Baa Surong, Shillong
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