Shillong: The mists and mountains aside, Meghalaya’s uniqueness lies in the mystery of its caves. Some of them have been explored and mapped. The natural sandstone cave system is the longest in the world and dates back to 70 million years or more! But what is of concern to environmentalists is saving this heritage. Since the state government is yet to come up with a comprehensive policy to protect areas with caves , the structures are under threat—primarily from rampant mining activity.“We have about 1,700 caves in Meghalaya as of now and over a 1,000 of them have been explored. We have already mapped 491 km of cave passage—which in a small state like Meghalaya—is astounding,” said Brian Kharpran Daly , founding-member of the Meghalaya Adventurers’ Association (MAA).The density of the cave systems in Meghalaya is the highest in the country and there are a number of factors responsible for this formation—high-grade limestone, high precipitation, elevation and a humid climate.MAA, set up in 1992, organizes expeditions with cavers from across the world every year in February and can be credited with some of the biggest discoveries of caves in the state. “The uniqueness of Meghalaya lies in its caves. The longest and the deepest caves of India are here. In a few years, we hope to record 2,000 caves,” Brian, a recipient of the Tenzing Norgay National Award in 2004, said.Brian was part of the team that mapped the longest natural cave in India, the 31-km Krem Liat Prah in the Jaintia Hills district in 2006. Last month, MAA cavers mapped the 24.58-km Krem Puri at Mawsynram in the East Khasi Hills , the longest sandstone cave in the world.“In 2015, a youth came from a village around that area and said they had found two caves which they wanted us to explore. In February 2016, we went to the area and mapped about 6.3 km. We knew then that it was going to be a big cave as it was a vast maze. Some villagers lost their way. We had to escort them out,” Brian said. The cave has hundreds of interconnected passages, forming a complex grid.The following year, they went back. “We completed 12.6 km in 2017. The world’s longest sandstone cave then was 18 km long. This year, we managed to map 24.58 km, making it the world’s longest,” Brian said. Krem Puri surpassed the previous record-holder, Venezuela’s Cueva del Saman in Edo Zulia, by 6 km.Sandstone caves are not as common as limestone caves because of the high solubility of sandstone, making it erode and dissolve much more easily than limestone. In Meghalaya, the presence of such large sandstone caves is primarily because of the prevalence of calcareous sandstone, which has a small percentage of lime, and the high rainfall.“We name passages as we go along,” the 71-year-old caver added. Passages named Suicide Ledge Canyon, Dangerous Boulders and Tight Crawl come as warnings to caving enthusiasts, while passages like Sleepy Lunch— named after the team decided to have just that, a sleepy lunch—reveal the whimsical process of nomenclature.There is little to protect such discoveries though. Rampant mining is posing a big threat to their existence. In April 2008, a passage in Krem Mawmluh in Cherrapunji started caving in because of limestone mining activity around the area. Cavers have pointed out from time to time the threat faced by Krem Rabon and Krem Umlawan in the Jaintia Hills because of mining. “Several caves have already been destroyed. Some caves don’t even exist while others have filled up,” Brian said.With every lost cave, a vast repository of information is gone forever. “At Krem Puri, we found the fossil of a Mosasaurus, an aquatic lizard that lived 70 million years ago. In another expedition, we had discovered a species of fish, Schistura papulifera, in the Krem Synrang Pamiang in the Jaintia Hills, not found anywhere else in the world. These are just a few examples. Every cave holds the key to prehistoric civilization and evolution,” he added.The demand to conserve Meghalaya’s caves has been in tune with the socio-economic reality of the state. “We are not against mining. We need coal, we need cement. All we ask for is that the government comes up with a policy which should protect areas with master cave systems and high density of caves,” Brian said.Asked if the mining policy the government is working on takes this into account, chief minister Conrad Sangma said, “We are keen to ensure that there is a balance in our policy. We will try to minimize the damage that is caused by mining. We cannot guarantee that there will be no problems, but we will ensure there are as many stringent policies as possible to protect our caves, our water and forests.”The problem is a cave will not automatically come under protection as a heritage site by merely being discovered and mapped. “Both the state and the Centre are responsible for monuments. That complicates the picture. We have, for example, national-level laws in India that are used only when an area is declared to be of national importance. But states can have laws to notify an area,” Shalini Iyengar , a Bengaluru-based environmental lawyer said.Who takes care of a site is the first important question that needs to be settled. “One can write to the authorities to have an area notified. Apart from that, there are a couple constitutional principles that talk of protecting heritage. You can always invoke Article 49 and Article 51 A (f), which state that states must protect national heritage. Both states and citizens share responsibility for protecting heritage,” she added.

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