Shillong, Oct 13: The second meeting of an expert committee established by the government of Meghalaya to restore and safeguard water bodies was held on Thursday at Sylvan House in Shillong.

According to the High Court of Meghalaya PIL No.10 of 2019 in the Re-Cleanliness of Umiam Lake vs. the State of Meghalaya, the expert committee was established on June 23 of this year. The Committee’s mandate is to advise the State Government on the steps that should be done to safeguard and restore the State’s water resources.

Naba Bhattacharjee, one of the committee’s expert, stated that at the meeting they had gathered the report from a few districts and were able to comprehend the format used in the communication delivered to the Deputy Commissioners by the expert committee.

“After the first meeting of the expert committee, a format was sent to all Deputy Commissioner’s of all the districts giving them the parameters how to identify these water bodies which are affected, polluted and contaminated and then submit a report. The meeting today was to review the information passed on by the districts. Few of the district’s (3-4 of them) weren’t clear about the format, so a clarification was given to them,” he informed.

The remaining districts now have 10 days to submit their reports, according to the expert committee.

When the committee receives the whole report, they will compile this data and develop knowledgeable solutions to the various issues facing the various water bodies.

Additionally, he stated that the study would mention hundreds of different aquatic bodies. Fish ponds have also been removed from the committee’s scope because they come with their own set of problems and safeguards.

While the task of developing an action plan has been given to the committee, another separate committee is in charge of dealing with the Umkhrah, Umshyrpi, Kyrhokhla, Nonbah, Umtrew, Lukha, and Myntdu rivers. The State Wetland authorities are responsible for 53 other wetlands in addition to these.

“Around 60 rivers are kept out of the purview of this committee. Minus this 60, all other water bodies, lakes, ponds including the stretches of the rivers, which are deemed to be polluted will be taken up by the committee,” informed Bhattacharjee.