Help save the caves of Meghalaya

[Cognetsol]

Greetings from Meghalaya, a small state tucked away in the hills of Northeast India. I am working on a campaign to save our beautiful caves from the destruction by cement companies digging for limestone. I am quite sure some of you have caved in Meghalaya and/or know others who have. 

This appeal is intended for spelunkers and anyone else keen on saving the environment;

The caves of Meghalaya are under threat from the mining lobby. Each day, millions of years of nature's labour of love are reduced to rubble filled into bags and sent off somewhere around the world to build some concrete monstrosity that won't even last 200 years. To highlight this tragedy, I am working on a "countdown" calendar for the year 2012, to showcase the exquisite beauty of the caves in the Khasi, Jaintia and Garo Hills of Meghalaya in the hope that people will rally together to preserve and protect them. This call goes out to spelunkers, (cave explorers), adventurers, explorers, scientists, photographers, geo-palenteologists, naturalists or photographers. to contribute to this effort by sending me photographs to use in high resolution of these caves along with a brief description. Any photographs used in the calendar will have the mugshot of the photographer, a 50-word profile and the picture credit. Geo-tags if available too will be most appreciated. Please come forward and contribute from your collection towards this campaign that aims at saving another precious natural treasure from biting the dust!

It is a lonely battle and I could use all the help I can get in the form of pictures, write-ups, maps, data - anything at all to achieve the end objective. It would be very noble of you if you could forward my e-mail ID. sannjay.sharma.cognet@gmail.com to anyone who wishes to contribute. I am also listed on facebook as Cognetsol. Those who can, may even call me on my hand phone: +91 - 9436161402.

 

[cavermark]

This is a very delicate issue (as the person who was threatened by a delegation of angry coal miners in Meghalaya a few years ago I don't want to be too confrontational in how we deal with the problem)

Please contact me or Simon Brooks direct to discuss this if you have an interest.

 

[Cognetsol]

Thanks for the heads up and also your concern. Fortunately, the way I intend to go about it is non-confrontational. In fact it is the ideal diplomatic coup. Can't get into specifics just now but the signs on the ground are already good. I have mailed Simon, but there's been no response. Re: the threats, let's cross that bridge when we come to it. We can't just let things go on the way we are for fear of failure, can we!

Meanwhile, I will appreciate if you could send me pictures if you have any, a headshot, a one-line profile and a few words about (a) what is special about the caves in Meghalaya and (b) what role caves play in the Eco-system.

 

[estelle]

Have you been in contact with the Meghalaya Adventurers Association? There's been 20 odd years worth of working with them on annual caving expeditions to Meghalaya, so as a 'local', they are probably a good point of contact. I'm sure Simon will reply when he gets a chance.

 

[Cognetsol]

Thanks for the input. However, MAA are no strangers. In fact when the first cavers came to Meghalaya in 1989-90 and hit the Garo Hills to explore the Siju caves, I broke the story for the media about the hitherto little known caves. It was only subsequent to this in 1992 that Simon J Brooks first met Brian Dermot Kharpran Daly and the rest, as they say, is history. I just held a meeting with Brian and we have agreed to augment each others efforts through a collaborative process.

Meanwhile, if you have anything to contribute to the project - even in terms of a quote of your views on the Megh caves, please do mail them to me and send in a headshot so I can carry it alongside the image of the caves.

Thanks and best regards,

Sannjay.

 

[cavermark]

I think Simon may be in Iran currently. I would like to wait for his input as without his efforts we would know very little about the caves you are hoping to protect.
Protection is great, so long as the local people are onboard. The miners could only see their livelihood being taken away from them. We must be careful, or access may be lost and any hope of studying the caves further would go with it...