Garo Hills : Gone With the Coal?

This article finds space in July - September 2014 issue of Hornbill 

I visited the Siju Eco Camp, located on the banks of the Simsang river across the Siju Wildlife Sanctuary, Meghalaya, during first week of February 2013, with colleagues. A part of Samrakshan’s eco-tourism initiative, our objectives were to organize an in-house workshop for team members and allot time to look for birds. Samrakshan has taken up interesting and unique initiatives to conserve the habitat. These range from participatory elephant monitoring program to one on Community Conserved Areas.

Samrakshan, a NGO registered as a Charitable Trust, works towards conserving biodiversity values in an equitable and just manner. Its Baghmara field-base was initiated during 2004.

Pitcher Plant (Memang Koksi), South Garo Hills : Pankaj Sekhsaria

Simsang from the hanging bridge at Siju : Pankaj Sekhsaria

First the birds...

A Blue Whistling-Thrush Myophonus caeruleus had made the Siju Eco Camp its home. One day, we heard its call, and on the other, it revealed itself, even as we wondered if a fowl had caused the crackling sound of dry leaves and twigs! Next, we saw it playfully moving around the kitchen door. I got to know from my colleagues, who frequently visit the campus, it has even been seen inside the kitchen, eyeing and many-a-times picking up the left-overs!

The campsite allowed me to see birds fly over Simsang. I was reminded of the ‘V formation’ of egrets as they flew under the bridge over the river towards Bangladesh. Each evening, we would be amazed at their flight (along the curve of the river!) and fascinated by their stark white plumage. More often than not, their elegance was underscored by the greenish-blue (or it is bluish-green!) waters of the Simsang flowing below. On this trip, I saw a River Lapwing Vanellus duvaucelii fly gently over the river, while on the bank wagtails ‘jumped off-the-air’ as only wagtails do.

Siju–Balpakram Complex is recognized as an Important Bird Area (IBA). The Birdlife International website lists 3 species as the “IBA trigger species” White-winged Duck Asarcornis scutulata, White-rumped Vulture Gyps bengalensis and Grey Sibia Heterophasia gracilis.

I saw the Black Drongo Dicrurus macrocercus and Greater Racquet-tailed Drongo Dicrurus paradiseus on a late morning, and as I lazed in a chair after lunch, I also saw the Ashy Drongo Dicrurus leucophaeus. This drongo went back and forth between two trees standing about 30 m (100 feet) apart from each other; the take off ‘drongo-style’ – a small jerky air-lift about 3 m (10 feet) prior to moving aside. As I focused my binoculars, I saw the angry red of its eyes! This was a contrast to its otherwise peaceful demeanor.

On another afternoon, as we chatted after lunch, a flock of Chestnut-headed Bee-eaters Merops leschenaulti made their presence felt on the campus. The afternoon sun brought out the splendor of their colours with the black gorget taking the form of a bow-tie worn by a colourful gentleman! Four on one tree, one on another to my front, besides at least a couple of others not in the immediate vicinity. No sooner had their calls subsided, than a solitary Golden-fronted Leafbird Chloropsis aurifrons decided it had to be heard. However, unlike the bee-eaters, it selected the topmost branch of a tree, one that still bore leaves. As I saw it, from almost underneath, the black throat appeared prominent.

The short flights of Scarlet Minivet  Pericrocotus flammeus and Black-hooded Oriole Oriolus xanthornus amidst leafy branches appeared  "as if the trees were tossing colourful jewels to each other". The Oriental Turtle-Doves Steptopelia orientalis gave the Red-vented Bulbuls Pycnonotus cafer a run for their money, when it boiled down to numbers – a surprise for me.

One morning, an Oriental Pied Hornbill Anthracoceros albirostris, appeared towards the other end of the campus from the kitchen, and was told that a noisy flock pays visits each day on its way to the Siju Wildlife Sanctuary. Unlike my colleagues, I was not able to identify its call the next day! I wondered where their nests would be if they flew into the Sanctuary each morning. During our walk in the Sanctuary, we saw four fiery-red Red Junglefowl Gallus gallus. Unlike on earlier occasions, there was no scuffle among them, and the birds were making efforts to fly, probably due to our presence. They flew for about 7 m (25 feet) at a height of about 1 m (4 feet). A little further, we heard and then saw the Crested Serpent-Eagle Spilornis cheela calling out loudly from a treetop, and then another.

At the small stream adjacent to Siju Cave’s opening, I saw the Black-backed Forktail Enicurus  immaculatus and the White-capped Redstart Chaimarrornis leucocephalus. There were others from the Asian Fairy-Bluebird Irena puella to Oriental Broad-billed Roller Eurystomus orientallis, and I wished we had more occasions to loiter around with our binoculars.

Coal dumped along the Siju - Rewak Corridor : Nimesh Ved

Now the Plans …

The Planning Workshop did not move as we had envisaged. Coal mining threatens the landscape in no small measure and this featured in every other discussion. While this is not new to the region, the scale (and impact) of mining operations today snarl like an angry fire-spitting dragon on the landscape, threatening its ecological and cultural diversity.

A report on illegal private coal mines around Balpakram National Park in the South Garo Hills, Meghalaya, by Asad R. Rahmani, Director of BNHS, submitted to the National Board for Wildlife in 2010, had recommended that the Centre take up the issue of private mining (both coal and limestone) with the State Government. “Such mining is going on at a massive scale throughout the state and has severe implications for the social fabric of the state. The state and district council must ensure that no new illegal mine is opened anywhere,” the report had stated. (www.telegraphindia.com)

A few years back, we used to go from Baghmara to Siju on bikes to enjoy a trip to the caves (the Siju cave system is one of the longest in the country, and besides other species, hosts millions of Fulvous Fruit Bats Rousettus leschenaultii), and afterwards, plunge ourselves into the crystal clear, cool waters of the Simsang. This trip took us in excess of two hours on account of the coal truck traffic. The banks of the river had an over-generous, sprinkling of coal, and I was told that people obtain coal on filtering the sand! On our way back, we came across coal piled beneath a board, which proclaimed it to be the Siju–Rewak corridor – an elephant crossing zone!

The scale at which it happens : Rajkamal Goswami (both images)

The majority of existing coal mines in Garo Hills are operated by individuals who have not sought any clearance. This unregulated private mining is justified on the grounds that the laws governing mining do not apply to the state owing to the prevalence of the 6th Schedule throughout the state. The applicability of all national mining regulations has however since been clarified through Right to Information petitions filed by the Chitmang Hills Anti Mining Forum with the Directorate of Mineral Resources (DMR), Government of Meghalaya and the Union Ministry of Coal. Like in other cases, we do have laws but we have not been able to impose them! Multiple laws are pushed under the carpet by the coal mining cartel in Garo Hills. This includes turning a blind eye to child labour in the mines (contra their playing football with friends in school!). I also wonder how the illegal coal is allowed to be legally exported to Bangladesh! 

Major Coal Mining Areas in Garo Hills: 
 South Garo HillsA.   Nongal Bibra (oldest mines with reserves significantly depleted)
B.   Chokpot
C.   Siju
 East Garo HillsA.   Dobu
B.   Rongbinggre
C.   Songmagre
 West Garo HillsA.   Balupara
B.   Sillongranggre
C.   DamalA’sin

         (Samrakshan Trust (2011))

The meeting ended on a sombre note, as we sat around the fire at night on the final evening, listening to the Giant Flying Squirrel Petaurista petaurista from across the river. We discussed issues to which we had no answers.  We wondered if the mining problem was not discussed, it would render our presence redundant, and also whether we were in a position to take it up! Whether community of scientists would be willing to take up research work here? Work that would help in litigation against the mining lobby, and raising the public voice against this “massacre of biodiversity”, and thus dove-tail into conservation action?

Worker at a coal mine : Saloni Bhatia

Does notification of wildlife areas help? Siju is a Wildlife Sanctuary, and Balpakram (which abuts Siju) is a National Park, and both of them put together, an IBA as also part of the Garo Hills Elephant Reserve. Yet the situation on the ground is bleak.

Mining along a stream : Saloni Bhatia

As I checked out of the hotel at Guwahati, (on my way back) and wrote Baghmara in the ‘arrived from’ column, I was asked “The place of coal?”. Not very long back at a hotel in this very city, I had been asked of Baghmara “The place of elephants?”. Mining today is on its way to ruining the landscape and unless we join hands we will lose Garo Hills. The whistling of the thrushes may be lost forever in the rumble of mining trucks! 

Share 2 recent articles on the topic. These are by Janaki Lenin and Mridula Chari and bring out the situation as it stands today.

Many thanks to Samrakshan Trust and colleagues, BNHS, Rajkamal Goswami, Saloni Bhatia, Sonali Vadhavkar, Vibhuti Dedhia and Pankaj Sekhsaria.