Shillong MP Vincent Pala, who will be participating in the COP-26 international climate conference in November in Scotland, plans to raise the issue of jhum cultivation that is prevalent in the North East and hopes to get information on technologies that will purify water polluted by coal and limestone mining.
“I want to raise the issue of funding those farmers who are into jhum cultivation. So that they can find alternatives,” Pala said.
According to the Shillong MP, whenever he travels by air, he witnesses the destruction caused to the environment caused by jhum cultivation.
He also pointed out that in Mizoram, the government there has designed alternatives to jhum cultivation.
On the issue of water in Meghalaya being polluted by coal and limestone mining, the Shillong MP said, “I expect that if we go for the conference to meet scientists who may have the latest technologies which are at the same time affordable to the state. I am keen to get such information.”
Pala said that he is attending the COP-26 conference as a member of the Parliamentary Forum on Climate Change.
Apart from Pala, the others from India who have confirmed their participation are MPs Dr Sanjay Jaiswal and Mithun Reddy.