Meghalaya Panel prepares action plan to restore waterbodies

Subject : Government

Context : An expert committee will soon submit an action plan for the restoration of polluted waterbodies in Meghalaya.

Concept :

The Meghalaya government had set up the 10-member expert panel on the protection and restoration of the State’s waterbodies following an order of the High Court of Meghalaya.
The committee is headed by the State’s Principal Chief Conservator of Forest
The action plan will be site specific to every river and will cover the whole stateexcept those water bodies in the wildlife protected areas, reserved forests and water-bodies dealt with by the State Wetland Authority and River Rejuvenation Committee and the fish ponds.
The major rivers of Meghalaya – Umkhrah, Umshyrpi, Umtrew, Lukha and Myntdu – have been excluded from the purview of this committee.

River Rejuvenation Committee

In 2018, National Green Tribunal has directed all the states/UT’s to constitute a four member committee called River rejuvenation committee.
The committee comprises, Director of Environment, Director of Urban Development., Director of Industries, and Member Secretary, State Pollution Control Board of concerned State.
This Committee will also be the monitoring Committee for execution of the action plan to bring all the polluted river stretches to be fit at least for bathing purposes.
The RRC will function under the overall supervision and coordination of Principal Secretary, Environment of the concerned State/Union Territory.

State Wetlands Authority (SWA):

As per Wetland(Conservation and Management) rules, 2017, State Wetland Authority should be setup in each State/UTs headed by State’s environment minister and include range of government officials.
State government will also nominate one expert each in fields of wetland ecology, hydrology, fisheries, landscape planning and socioeconomics.

Functions of SWA:

It will develop comprehensive list of activities to be regulated and permitted within notified wetlands and their zone of influence.
It will also recommend additional prohibited activities for specific wetlands, define strategies wise use of wetlands and its conservation and undertake measures to enhance awareness within stakeholders and local communities on values and functions of wetlands.
In this case, wise use has been defined as principle of sustainable uses that is compatible with conservation.