[By W. Passah, Ex HOD Electronics St Edmunds college Shillong]
1969, July, Neil Armstrong before that historic landing on the moon called upon the ground staff to tell them that the earth looks beautiful and blue but a big but it is fragile. After few hours, Armstrong landed with that famous declaration “One small step for man, a giant leap for mankind”.
Later on TV interviews on his daughter and son revealed that Neil Armstrong led a low profile life far away from space mission.
Lobo, the American singer, with the lyrics from his Australian friend who was the Green Activist sang :-
That black boy in Chicago playing on the street
Not enough to wear not near enough to eat,
But don’t you know he saw it on that July afternoon (on B&W TV)
That a man name Armstrong walk upon the moon.
That girl in Calcutta barely eight year old
The flies that swarm the market place to see she doesn’t grow old,
But she too heard it (on uncle’s transistor) on that July afternoon
That a man named Armstrong walked upon the moon.
Rivers getting dirty wind is getting bad
War and hate killing off the only earth we had,
But the whole world stopped to watch it on that July afternoon
That a man named Armstrong walk upon the moon.
I wonder if long long time ago
Somewhere in the Universe
They saw a man named Adam
Walk upon the earth (Garden of Eden)
That was way back in 1969.
Then the Brothers Four in the 60s sang The Green Fields of Summer
Once there were green fields kissed by the sun
Once there were valleys where rivers used to run
Once there were blue skies as high as above
Once they were part of an everlasting love,
We were the lovers that stroll on green fields
Gone are the green fields parched by the sun
Dry are the valleys where rivers used to run
Gone with the cold wind that swept unto my heart
Gone with the lovers that let their dreams depart
We were the lovers that strolled on green fields
I’ll never know what made you run away
How can I find you when dark clouds hide the day,
I only know that nothing left for me
Nothing in this wide world left for me to see
But I’ll keep on waiting till you return
I’ll keep on waiting till the day you learn
You can’t be happy as long as you are away
Come to the green fields and to me once again.
And man’s craze for excessive luxury and extravagant life style had undone the mother earth.
In the 18th century, James and I invented the Steam Engine and and but it runs on coal.
And the COP 20 21 their main topics are on Watt the daily word in everybody.
1972 The Stockholm Agreement of 116 countries alarmed at the river poisoned and the wind bad.
In Meghalaya, the state in North East India we had the North Eastern Hills University with AQI meters on busy roads. Today at the time we need it the most, the AQI meters no longer seen.
And that Hospital Chimney of The Robert Hospital built in 1920, the chimney for the boiler to send steam the through steel pipes to warm the radiators for the patients the likes of those in ship’s of old era like the ones for First class passengers of that ill fated Titanic that hit the Iceberg (1912), at Long Last in 2018 or so was de commissioned on environmental ground.
But the Local English Newspaper 19 July 2025 writes Meghalaya and Assam to push for cleaner air in Byrnihat.
What is Byrnihat? Byrnihat is around 20 km from the capital of Assam, Guwahati (old name changed to Guwahati and do we calculate the Power (Watt) losses involved in name changing), and 80 km from Shillong the Capital of Assam.
And when Meghalaya was born out of Assam in 1972 after few years, it gave licenses to around 5 Smelting Plants and these use Coal Fired Chimneys. As a matter of fact, the scientists and the engineers alarmed by the Climate Change and Global Warming had made all Coal fired Chimneys to resort to Chimney equipped with the Electro Static Precipitator based on Like charges repel and unlike charges attrack.
Walls of the chimneys of thin sheet of steel in pieces of say 2×2 metres are positively charged and there are thin wires negatively charged from end to end of the chimney and gas particles of Carbon dioxide, Sulphur dioxide, nitrous oxide while escaping unto the air to pollute humans and animals are thus attracted to the chimney walls. And periodically, the walls are subject to vibration and the particles to be dumped deep unto the soil.
These chimney were never used in Smelting Plants in Byrnihat nor used in the Cement Factories that today numbering 14 of them, mushrooming around a village Lumshnong in 25 Sq Km.
And Lumshnong is being overlooked by The Narpuh Wild Life Sanctuary that is situated on the giant Khadoom Range that wedges Assam North Cachar and East Jaintia of Meghalaya.
Byrnihat Story :
25 years or so, students in Schools in Byrnihat complained of respiratory problems but no one bothered.
And the first months of 2025 Headlines “Byrnihat the most polluted area in India”.
And we, the Meghalayans were are so stupid not to read “Mr Conrad Sangma blamed the AQI meter of Assam”.
YOY YOY YOY, did we fight for Hillstate, not knowing that Delimitation The Must The Necessity and we forget our MLAs Madam B Khongmen of The Khasi Hills won of voters of total 1 lakh 46,000 voters and Mr L Khyriem, MLA Jaintia was MLA over 1 lakh 33. 000 votes.
With new state Meghalaya of 60 Constituencies The Lakhs divided by 60 plus too many who love to serve and capturing before Model Code of Conduct say 7000 voters, enough to be sworn in.
Our leaders of substance who desire to serve, have money power but won’t stoop that low.
Coming to “Meghalaya and Assam to push for cleaner air in Byrnihat” with nostalgic feeling of The Chimney of Robert Hospital that had warmed the European Ward Patients from 1920 till 2014 or so, the caption is but a big joke my dear readers.
And my write up won’t suffice if the Power Theft in Byrnihat not written about.
10 years ago one IAS officer waived Rs 1.74 crore oft one Steel Smelting Plants.
And few years later one Engineer of MeECL, in charge of sale of Idle reserve (for all to understand by midnight 90 %of power not needed any longer but water wheels Tobe still driven so that reserve sold to these agents like PGIL, RECPDCL etc who buy at cheaper rate to sell to other users at the Govt approved rate.
I shall not write on the Engineer of sale of idle reserve and that meeting in the Secreteriat during Covid Peak of the CM Mr Conrad Sangma, the Power Minister James Sangma the 2 IAS officers and one engineer MeECL on plan to sell to RECPDCL the 2 pearls of MeECL the Shillong and The Jowai Circles with their suburbs that with one Khasi Daily reporting 2 bureaucrats discharged and service in the charge of Deputy CS.
Power theft in the form of Eddy Current meter tilted a bit, or iron strings in bundles inserted unto holes of meter and most devastated was use of Hookies the J inverted to tap phase and neutral to bypass Meters.
Good sense prevailed as MeECL resorted to the 2 meter system, one with the Plants the other with MeECL and on that first month Rs 50 Crores more was the bill.
And next on Indian Electricity Act 2003 of Captive Power Plants and readers then would understand why Narpuh People can not enjoy The Khliehriat Grid and why Shillongites can’t have power to boil GSSWS water treated with only alum and bleaching powder to drink to live to work whereas Cement Plants bake Limestone to mint Crores of rupees per minute.
