SHILLONG: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Thursday held a meeting for clean Shillong and Umiam lake. The meeting was held in view of growing garbage menace in the city and Umiam lake.
The officials of different departments and civil organisations were present during the meeting to discuss and chalk out ways and means to ensure cleanliness.
Sangma, while seeking suggestions from various departments like district administration, forest, Shillong Municipal Board and Urban Affairs, said the involvement of local bodies, institutions and the district council are important to meet the objective of keeping Shillong clean. “While there is a need of behavioural change from everyone and active public participation, the local bodies and institutions can play a major role in the enforcement of laws, monitoring and spreading the message of cleanliness and waste management,” he said.
Conrad also said the aim of having a clean Shillong would be met more aggressively after the approval of the action plan by the central pollution control board. Sangma also held a separate meeting with the officials to discuss the need to clean Umiam lake. “The recent picture of Umiam lake that has been doing the rounds in social media is a matter of grave environmental concern and an eye sore,” said the chief minister.
He said it is an eye opener and short term and long term measures have to be found to clean Umiam lake.
Task force
The chief minister suggested that a committee be formed comprising members from the forest, district administration, MeECL, Shillong Municipal Board, District Council and Water Resources department to work out the mechanisms to clean Umiam lake. “While the government will definitely look into long term measures to clean Umiam lake, it is urgently required to stop further waste being dumped into the lake,” he said.
The officials, however, claimed that the picture of Umiam being circulated was old but nevertheless admitted that it is a wakeup call and measures have to be taken up to clean the lake.
