Meghalaya’s keenness to create an elephant corridor with neighbour Assam is also aimed to create a tourist destination and protect the pachyderms.
Last month Chief Minister Conrad Sangma announced that the state is eager to create an elephant corridor between Assam and further to Bangladesh to mitigate human-animal conflict.
Today the Chief Minister said that the elephant corridor would serve as a tourism destination and “at the same time human and elephants can live in peace and harmony.”
“We as a State want to work with the Government of Assam to protect the elephants. We have one of the largest populations of elephants in the entire Asian continent and hence we can have an elephant corridor permanently marked, which could also serve as a tourism destination where people can come and experience and see the elephants and at the same time human and elephants can live in peace and harmony,” Sangma said at the inauguration of the 11th edition of the International Tourism Mart (ITM) in Shillong today.
Stating that the North East is witnessing unprecedented economic growth through the support of the Prime Minister and different ministries, Sangma said the huge potential for tourism in the region is one of the sectors that can ensure job opportunities are created for the ever growing number of youth seeking employment every year.
“Tourism has been one of the main pillars of economic policies and programmes for our State government,” Sangma said.
He also stressed that plans and policies should be tailored made to the strengths of Meghalaya based on competitive advantages or USPs that the State has and can develop.
“We have to ensure that we involve the community in whatever we do and while focusing on the economic development and tourism, we need to ensure that we take care of the environment and the ecology also,” he added.
