House Committee asks school to shut down for releasing

A Meghalaya Assembly Committee Wednesday told a Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya to shut down as the school is releasing untreated water directly into Mawphlang dam which is the main water source for nearly four lakh people of Shillong.

The Meghalaya Assembly Committee on Environment which inspected the JNV at Mawphlang village, 25 km west of here on Tuesday, took the decision at a meeting held on Wednesday to review environment issues. It told the school authorities to shut down until remedial measures are taken, officials said.

The House panel chairperson S K Sun told PTI, "The Committee has verbally informed the assistant commissioner of JNV Samiti that it has to close down the school till such time it makes the sewage treatment plant functional again."

He said the sewage treatment plant at the school was found dysfunctional during an inspection conducted by the House panel on Tuesday.

 

The order may not affect the 400 school inmates much provided the authorities concerned rectify the technical glitches of the plant as the school is enjoying vacation at the moment, officials said.

"The students may get extended vacation period until the system is rectified," panel member H M Shangpliang said.

At the meeting the JNV principal feigned ignorance of the issue and passed the buck to the CPWD which set up the sewage treatment plant, according to Shangpliang.

The school, which has been functioning in the past few years from its permanent campus, is located just above the catchment area in Mawphlang and the reservoir is the lifeline for the residents of the state capital.

Meanwhile, the House panel has also directed the PHE and the Forest department to take necessary steps to declare the water reservoir as a national wetland area.

The Umiew Water Supply project has a catchment area of over 115 sq km area.

The House Committee on Environment has also decided to visit the industrial estates and the major factories in the state to find out if environmental guidelines were strictly adhered to, Shangpliang said.