A month ago, I had
travelled to Pemagatshel. It was my first visit to this place. Like most of
you, this remote southeastern dzongkhag was one among few that I had never been
to before. The others were Gasa and Lhuentse.
So this particular
visit made me think why a place like Pemagatshel remains absolutely secluded,
backward.
The ride on the
Pemagathsel road, after we diverted from the Samdrupjongkhar-Trashigang
highway, was very bumpy, rough; to put it more accurately, scary ride. The road was too bad -
very narrow, very dusty. Potholes were so common. It seemed like the road was not
maintained for many years.
To the locals and
travellers, this road was known as notorious for its bad condition and reckless
trucks plying on the road. Incessant jumbo gypsum trucks ran along the road
like it was a runway, blatantly ignoring the IMTRAT’s notice “This is highway,
not runway”.
However, the
infinite forest of coniferous and broad leaf kept me amazed all the time. And quite
wondrously, they consumed all the mountains. 87.65% of the total area was under
forest cover.
Being a resident
of Thimphu, where I was used to looking at the thinly spread pine tree over the
mountains, this forest of coniferous was a real treat
to my eyes - so thick, so broad, so green and so lush.
Amidst the slopes
of those deep mountains and dark forest, a few pockets of human settlements
have rested forlorn, which brought a deep melancholic feeling to my heart. They
appeared to me like God’s rare handiwork.
After four hours of rough
and scary ride, I could finally spot Pemagatshel valley. From the top, it has
amazing views looking at scattered settlements. The shape and landscape of the
valley was like a bowl, like a lotus flower. Several strings of sharp-edged slopes
like lotus petals fell around into the bowl, which were dressed by blissful villages.
Truly, quite
accurately, it’s Pemagatshel, meaning “Blissful land of the lotus”.
Then suddenly, an
ominous scene right in the middle of the valley, right in the middle of human
settlements appeared to steal the scene. The Gypsum Mining, an area of 26.77
hectares in Khothakpa, was an eyesore. It was ripping apart the “Land of the
blissful lotus” and its pristine environment.
Looking at it, I just
felt a twinge of disappointment and frustration. The mining looked like a
cancer digging deep into a human body and ripping apart his flesh. Entire
valley echoed, trembled with the sound of the monstrous machines grinding mercilessly
at the sites.
After a little while,
it put me into such a miserable mood. I felt so bad I almost cried. There’s no
doubt that it was a beautiful sunny day. But the villagers couldn’t feel it, as
the dust in the sky was obscuring the sun like the day was under the solar
eclipse.
Peach plants were blossoming
everywhere, but the dust had mired them, suffocated their growth. The clothes
drying up outside had collected fresh dust. Roofs and tree leaves were coated
with layers of dust. The day was bitterly hot.
Coming to
Pemagatshel, I felt like I was not in Bhutan. It was as though I had just
stepped in a mining-obsessed state, where the development philosophy was not
GNH but greed and materialism, where they wouldn’t mind extracting wealth at
the cost of destroying their pristine environment and ruining their own
people’s health and life.
How long
Pemagathselpas have stopped seeing beautiful days? How long they have missed the
clear view of the sun, stars, and moon? How long they have been suffocated with the dust-filled
air? How long they have been tolerating this unlikely heat? How many lives of
the local people were affected by the mining?
Enough is enough. For,
you cannot bruise and wound a place more than this. For, you cannot give more
sufferings and pains to the innocent people than this. However, the most important
question to ask is: How long this will go on?
The locals have been
bearing the ills of these environmentally degrading venture for the past three
decades. The mining brought more harms than fulfilling its objective of
utilizing the reserve for economic development of the area and optimization of
revenue to the Royal Government of Bhutan.
If we look at the
statistics, the overall contribution of mining sector to the nation’s economy was very insignificant,
at a mere two percent. The gypsum mining was started at Pemagatshel in 1983, and
quite ironically, according the website of Dzongkhag, the Pemagatshel still has
second highest level of poverty at 26.9 percent after Lhuentse.
So what?
Mining is an undesirable
economic venture, which doesn’t serve the community, local people or the interest
of the nation. It benefits a handful of people.
The wound was too
deep, but not too late to fix. Pemagatshel still will be a better place, the
land of the blissful lotus. The current auction lease of Khotakpa will expire on December
31, 2018. The government should stop such harmful venture. But most importantly,
the people of Pemagatshel should knit together and say NO to mining.
Say it loud, and say
it bold.
