Shillong, Nov 12: Tensions flared outside the state Secretariat today after members of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) against the Shillong Peak Ropeway project marched on the government building as part of their protest against the tourism initiative.
The protesters marched from the Kiang Nangbah statue near Shillong Civil Hospital towards the Secretariat and sought permission to stage a sit-in. However, they had only been granted permission for a rally and no approval had been given by the Deputy Commissioner to hold a sit-in along the route of the rally.
Apart from the JAC regulars, ordinary members of the public also joined in the rally, from all walks of life and from different parts of the city; the JAC has argued that the ropeway issue should be deliberated on by all residents of Shillong as the water supply issue will affect more than just the Laban area. Among those present outside the Secretariat were noted author Janice Pariat, who was there briefly before heading to the opening of the Shillong Literary Festival.
The JAC has primarily been led by women and today’s rally was consistent in this, with single women, mothers and grandmothers all marching for the cause.
On the opposite side were the police and civil servants. One of the latter, Dahun S Lyngdoh, said that the rally, which began at around 1:30pm, was peaceful at the start but when the protestors reached the main gate of the Secretariat they decided to stop and declined to move on when asked to by magistrates and police. “This violated the conditions of the permission granted to them and they were informed accordingly,” she said.
Despite this, they were allowed to halt outside the Secretariat temporarily “in the interest of maintaining public order,” Lyngdoh added. Mattresses, that the protestors had carried along with them, were hurled in the direction of the police and barricades pushed into the path of oncoming traffic, she said, but, eventually, police were able to disperse the protestors by bussing them back to the Kiang Nangbah statue in the evening.
A separate confrontation was also reported between Green-Tech Foundation (GTF) chairperson H Bansiewdor Nonglang and other police.
During the demonstration, women protesters raised slogans against South Shillong MLA Sanbor Shullai and Tourism Minister Paul Lyngdoh, accusing the government of failing to adequately address concerns surrounding the proposed project. The JAC fears that the ropeway at Lum Shyllong will harm water sources that not only supply Greater Laban but other parts of Shillong as well. The state government has consistently rejected these fears as not being based in fact.
Speaking to reporters today, JAC president Deborah Marbaniang said that the ill effects of the felling of more than 500 trees for the project has already been felt.
Asked whether the JAC will join the government for an inspection of the ropeway site, Marbaniang questioned the purpose of such an exercise.
“What is the use of going for an inspection, when even the water source behind the ropeway, water that used to flow in the monsoon and in winter, has dried up since the trees were cut?” she said. “Fire brigade tankers and water supply vehicles used to come there to fetch water but now the source has dried up. What is the use of going for an inspection anymore?”
She also said that the JAC rejects comparisons with Shimla where an existing ropeway ferries tourists up and down a mountain. “You cannot compare Shimla with the state of Meghalaya. Meghalaya is totally different from Shimla, because Lum Shyllong gives food and water to the whole city of Shillong. It gives electricity [by feeding water to Umiam reservoir]. If Lum Shyllong is destroyed, Shillong is finished,” Marbaniang added.
