Shillong, Aug 3: The Joint Action Committee Against Shillong Ropeway Project and for Protection of the Lum Shyllong Catchment today submitted a memorandum to the Chief Executive Member of the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC), Winston Tony Lyngdoh, to urge his office to halt the project.
Speaking to reporters after submitting the memorandum, the JADC said that it made the move after questions were raised about the timing of the opposition to the project. Recently South Shillong MLA and government adviser Paul Lyngdoh, who was former Tourism Minister when the project was sanctioned, came out publicly to question the timing of the opposition.
“We didn’t know that the ropeway project will result in the felling of hundreds of trees and, after seeing the depletion of the forest on the foothills and now reaching the top it is now we realised it is ruining the environment,” Olivia Lyngdoh Mawlong, a member of the committee, said.
“We now have stood up. Tomorrow, when our children ask why our mothers allowed this hill to be destroyed, I and our group will not be sad because we spoke up. But the sad thing is for those who kept quiet,” Mawlong said.
She added that the JAC also wants development but not at the cost of destroying Lum Shyllong, which feeds the city with water.
Alvarin Marwein, another member of the committee, said that Lum Shyllong is sacred for the people and they will stand strong against the government’s support for the ropeway project.
On the claim of the Meghalaya Ropeway Development Authority that a public consultation was carried out with members of the community on September 27, 2022, the JAC said that it does not have any knowledge about it and they are in the dark.
“We have to ask the Meghalaya Ropeway Development Authority and the Riat Laban Dorbar Pyllun to produce the resolution when the public consultation was held, the public notice, attendance sheet and media clippings,” Marbaniang said.
