By G Phaiyolin Nongrum
Meghalaya in general and Sohra Region in particular is a favourite Tourist Destination and was tagged as one of the most sought after Global Tourist Destination since 1967, for its natural scenic beauty. Along with this great gift of nature, the tourism Service in this hill station is also amazing. We are improving our service through proper training and every day experience right from cleanliness, etiquette, and hospitality and we all have the quality of the host community. This industry provides Direct and Indirect employment to thousands of labour forces in the State. This smokeless industry provides skilled and semi-skilled blue collar job to the local people of different walks of life.
In Meghalaya tourism service is classed as a cottage industry where the family of those localities where there is a tourist destination grow up to be expertise in tourism services by their day today encounter with the guests, the tourists. With their hard work, dedication and experiences. The etiquette of tourism service in our state has passed from generation to generation, we are habituated to accept guests and treat them as kings because they are our customers. Nowadays home stays grow and scatter everywhere which indicates a good return from tourism services.
It is a high time for the State government and Central government to safeguarded tourism activities in this hill state by continuing as a sustainable tourism destination, home stay, resorts and playgrounds own by the local people at their own effort, must be given special attention regarding safety and security of both tourist and hosts and make these business to grow at a national level of service. This can be done by way of grants and subsidies to all with less documentation formalities and undertakings. These micro tourist destinations and stakeholders must be uplifted and boosted by way of Public-and-Private- Partnership.
With the crime recently committed by the gangster from Indore, the local people are taken by surprise. May be the criminals have already known of the fact that entry and exit of tourists in this particular Hill State is free, that they prefer to spend lots of travel expenses to make Meghalaya a venue for commit a cold-blooded murder out of their family feud, with the social media pulling the string against the local community.
Social Media Slur: The electronic media and newspapers should restraint themselves from spreading wrong information regarding any incidents that took place everywhere, As journalists the ethic and etiquette to avoid wrong information and be slapped by legal Notice. Especially the Times of India with its volume of readership had already damaged the sentiments of the local people of the State of Meghalaya, recently. A legal notice must have been slapped to the reporter as the spirit of the journalists is to give true information based on truth not a fake and fabricated story like they did. They have committed a crime of defaming Meghalaya. At the time of crises when Raja was murdered in our territory, we are depressed and the whole citizen and local people had given a helping hand for search along with the Police Force. The people of our State prayed in silence to save our land from the blame. Finally we acclaim our right as the host community, with dignity and pride because the crime was committed by his own newly-wed wife and her accomplices. Though several blame-games surfaced in the social media both from our own people and outside the State, these will slowly die with their snaky tongues. Even the departed Soul of Raja Raghuvanshi witnessed the truth and helped us to trace the actual culprit.
With this horrible incident which occurred in our territory, we pray that the Government must take necessary steps to protect this beautiful Hill by introducing ILP; as the responsible citizen of the State of Meghalaya we are eagerly waiting for the 152 elected representatives to come together and make Meghalaya a State protected by Inner Line Permit. The citizen was given wrong information that Inner Line Permit will affect the movement of tourists. But they never realised that ILP can strengthen the safety of the common man as both the tourists and the local populace are protected by law. No outsider can commit a heinous crime as already committed by Sonam Raghuvanshi and her accomplices coming to Meghalaya from Indore as dangerous criminals but disguised as tourists. Crime can be committed anywhere anytime by anybody, but safety of the common people is a must. [Even a beautiful wild rose in the forest was given a thorn to protect himself from the enemy.] Therefore, I strongly demand from the MDA govt. to move the Centre for ILP, If Manipur, Mizoram Arunachal Pradesh are tagged with ILP, then why not with Meghalaya?
Tourism is in high demand: When people practice agriculture, all the high terrains and deep gorges are not on demand. But the highly educated people who do not have their own agricultural land, work in the service industries like doctor, Engineers, Management business, trades and commerce, transport and supply. These high-profile employees of the industry with their family travel everywhere and love to go to the hidden places to get away from their daily chores. They take their family to swimming pools and playgrounds, to spend the day as a holiday. They love visiting the hill areas like Darjeeling, Sikkim, Bhutan Arunachal Pradesh, Manali, Kashmir, and majority of tourists add their itinerary to Meghalaya and visit Sohra, Nongpdeng, Wahrew, Nongkhnum, Ranikor, Mawphlang, Laitlum Shillong and its surroundings. Resorts and Eco Parks, palatial home stay and hotels, guest houses and State Government’s Guest house, like Assam House, Arunachal House are there to accept guests. But the most important part to protect the common man is the introduction of ILP.
Like any other services industries, the tourism industry in this hill area needs government interference from time to time for profiling the identity of the tourist, the transports service and the infiltration gate.
Weisawdong and its surrounding: Weisawdong is in the vicinity of Sohra Syiemship. It was a meander of Dainthlen Waterfall flowing right from Laitryngew village up to the plain land of Bangladesh. It is this river which cherishes the beauty of Lyngksiar Falls, Diengdoh, Janailar and Mawsawa Falls. Right now the place is a disputed area that was claimed by surrounding villages. These claimants of this particular gem are all under the control of the Syiem of Hima Sohra. We pray that this particular spot should be opened to the public for a glimpse of its beauty. As the saying goes, a deserted house is the place where crimes are committed by sinners; this whole gamut is also under threat of many crimes committed by outsiders taking advantage of the silence.
The legal ownership must be amicably solved by the civil authority as well as the traditional heads based on the history and demarcation of the villages, especially the nearest village. Amicable solution to the dispute area must be solved at the earliest to give Weisawdong a facelift and open to the public, this in turn will give employment to hundreds of local residents of these surroundings which will be a blessing. The concerned authority should allow the poor local people to live with a big smile, a hymn in their heart and sustainably live in harmony with nature not by the lust and avarice created by our elders and higher dignitaries for their own hefty lifestyle.
