Morung Express News
Dimapur | May 26
Toxic waste from rampant coal mining is fast killing aquatic life in the rivers of Jangpetkong erstwhile Changkikong Range under Mokokchung district.
The evidence is stark in most of the nine villages that straddle the Jangpetkong mountain range-namely Changki, Chungliyimsen, Khar Mongchen, Dibuia, Waromong Yimchenkimong, Molungkimong and Molungyimsen, where coal mining is a booming business.
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At Molungkimong village area, operation of open coal mining, which is major business, has polluted almost all the major tributaries namely: Tzupolang, Korlong-yong, Linen-yong, Long-yong, Ahem Ayong and Ashi Ayong. All these flow into Tzurang River, which borders the Japukong Range.
The impact on the environment has been fast and hazardous. Coal residue flowing into those rivers has made the water poisonous and undrinkable. Fishes and other aquatic life, which abound in these rivers, have fast disappeared, villagers reported.
“There is no point going fishing anymore. All the fishes have disappeared. I can’t even get hold of even a single crab,” Walu, a villager from Molungkimong said. According to Walu, the rivers became toxic since coal mining operation started. “Most of the rivers are dying or have become seasonal,” he added.
Not far from Molungkimong, at Dibuia village, the impact is identical. Villagers report how aquatic life has vanished from the rivulets namely Along-Yong, Surani-Yong, Anen-Yong, Tsuo-Yong Wachen-Yong, Nokhila –Yong flowing under their jurisdiction. Besides, it has also affected cultivation in the areas near the coalfields. This impact, the villagers reported, is being felt within a span of two to three years since the village began coal mining operations in their area.
At Longnak area, which falls under Changki village, and situated near Mangkolemba, a sub-division, the environmental impact of mining is more adverse. The practice in the area is rat-hole coal mining. Most of the cavities/pits dug to extract coal are left unfilled and unattended. This has led to landslides, (which obstruct roads) acid mine drainage and contamination of groundwater, streams and rivers.
Pastor of Mangkolemba Baptist Church, Dr Akok Amer, who has been raising concern on the negative impact of coal mining said major rivers like Tsuyong and its tributaries namely Longpen Tzuyong and Mejangsot have become polluted.
“The water has become red, fishes and other aquatic life have disappeared from the rivers,” Pastor Amer said. According to the Pastor, the residue of the coal flows directly down to the water bodies leading to toxic water pollution. Further, poisoning of the water bodies have also been due to the coal depots between Longnak and Mangkolemba roads, which flows down to the river during monsoon.
This is not the only cause for concern.
Since the operation of coal mining started, farmers of the area are finding it difficult to cultivate crops, particularly paddy.
It has become impossible to plant rice paddy because the crops just shrivel away after it is planted,” Pastor Amer reported. Earlier, farmers used to get 100 tins of rice from a plot of land. Now that same plot of land hardly produces 20 tins- the reason why many farmers have quit farming, he further revealed.
While such report of disastrous impact on the environment is a cause for wide alarm requiring immediate intervention, here in Nagaland State, the response is mostly timid and casual.
“Many of the villagers know all along the abrupt changes in the environments that coal mining ushers in. Since this is something they have not experienced before, and are not conscious of the damage it is doing to their forest and lands, therefore the nonchalance,” Aben Longkumer, an anthropology student observed.
Pastor Amer has been trying to provide awareness on the negative impact of coal mining to his congregation- but “without much of a positive impact,” he said. Talking about environment conservation from the pulpit is an unwelcome topic when most of those in the congregation bench are involved in the mining business.
However, Pastor Amer, who explained how he has been observing with anguish for the last two years on the destruction wrought by coal mining, feels that when the village council cannot do anything to control the rampant coal mining because they themselves are involved, the Church need to step in.
“Our relationship to our environment is bound in a larger complex, which includes our relationship with men and God, and this involves the Church,” the Pastor reasoned, while questioning, “Why do we have to kill our self when we want to earn an extra one lakh.”
