Shillong, Oct 29: Has the cleanest transparent river, the Umngot, River pride of Ri War and flagship of Meghalaya’s eco-tourism plans gone muddy and turbulent? If the viral videos of the river showing it brown instead of its pristine crystal green water is anything to go by, the tourism along the river and the livelihoods attached to it are in imminent danger of imploding.
The very concept of tourism in those areas depend on the transparent river, so clean that the river bed several feet deep can be seen, giving it its international fame and unique selling point.
The viral video of Umngot in turbulence is sending shock waves among nature lovers and ordinary citizens alike. People’s comments can be seen across the social media.
It has rattled the traditional heads in the Dawki and adjoining areas enough to send them scurrying to hold meetings and discuss the issue, according to sources in the area.
While, the reports of the Umngot’s muddy façade continued to worry many, those from the Dawki and adjoining areas were more concerned with the “untimely” exposure of Umngot, which they claimed is naturally muddy at this time of the year. The river regains its pristine quality in the deep winter months of December onwards till the next monsoon season.
However, activists have been pointing out that neither the Umngot nor the other rivers and streams in these hills are safe from the constant digging taking place all across the mountains in the name of development, whether it is for roads and infrastructure, house building, spreading urbanization in the small towns and the expansion of the highways to four lanes, which to many is calling upon destruction on nature.
Meghalaya Rural Tourism Forum (MRTF) President Alan West Kharkongor lamented, “Something’s gone terribly wrong.”
He said the river looks choked and sick while tourists are upset and blaming locals for something beyond their control.
“Reports point to the ongoing Shillong–Tamabil road expansion as the main culprit. The project seems to have ignored crucial environmental safeguards,” Kharkongor said.
Pointing out that no one is against development, he said. “If we lose Umngot’s crystal waters, it’s not just a loss for tourism; it’s a loss of Meghalaya’s identity itself.”
Kharkongor urged government to take up the matter with NHIDCL at the earliest.
Joannes JT Lamare, a well known state activist, said he had written dozens of letters to the authorities, both in the state and the national level, asking them to stop the constant digging of the soil and offer people better livelihood than these destructive kinds based on destroying the forests, soil and the waters. He said that he would again call on the NGT to take up the issue of depletion of rivers which are being destroyed by the dozens and not only Umngot, the pride of the state.
A tourist from Gujarat, Abhishek Mistry expressed his disappointment saying, “We travelled so far just to see the crystal river, which is one of the best on planet Earth but we are not able to go there to enjoy the natural beauty of it anymore”.
