By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The Shillong Street Carnival which kicked off on Friday to mark the start of the three-day Shillong Autumn Festival failed to attract much crowd.
Despite the hype created on the run-up to the Festival, the street carnival ended up being a routine affair. One reason could be that Friday is a working day.
The MTDF during their campaign to promote the Festival had claimed that this year’s carnival would be on a massive scale.
But sadly there was nothing new in the carnival as it was only a cultural procession with troupes showcasing the various traditional attire of the various tribes in the region.
In fact, the participation of the people in this year’s carnival was on the lower side when compared to the those held in the previous years.
The cultural procession was flagged off by Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma at Madan Iewrynghep on Friday. The cultural procession then proceeded to Laitumkhrah, Dhankheti, Barik point, IGP, Kachari, Kyndai Lad and finally culminated at Shillong Club.
Eight cultural troupes of North Eastern states decked up in their traditional attire paraded through the streets of Shillong amid beating of drums, blowing of bugles and some playing wind-pipe instruments.
Before flagging off the festival, the Chief Minister said that the State should lead from the front in promoting the North Eastern Region as the number one tourist destination.
“I believe with the exotic beauty which we have in the region we can become the number one tourist destination,” Dr Sangma said.
While calling upon various stakeholders to join hands in promoting Meghalaya as a brand in the tourism sector, he said that the major drawback in the State is its inability to tap various resources which would boost the tourism sector.
“We need to tap our potentials to become a major tourist destination,” the Chief Minister said while also emphasizing that the growth in the tourism sector would not only bring about economic development but would also help to generate employment opportunities for the youth.
It may be mentioned that fetes and festivities were held at the premises of the Shillong Club after the cultural procession.
The MTDF is organising this fete with the intention of reviving the tradition of holding of fetes in the State which had slowly become redundant.
The festival would shift to Orchid Lake Resort at Umiam for the Grand Finale on Saturday and Sunday.
Carnival hits traffic in city
Traffic management in the city on Friday failed completely, thanks to the Shillong Street Carnival.
The traffic congestion, which affected most parts of the city for a greater part of the day, began after Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma flagged off the street carnival from Madan Iewrynghep at 11:30 am.
Traffic personnel stopped movement of vehicles at Fire Brigade point to allow the cultural procession to move, resulting in severe traffic congestion.
Vehicles were left stranded for more than two hours throughout the stretch of the road from Fire Brigade, Laitumkhrah, Dhankheti, Barik, IGP point and Khyndai Lad.
Soon after the cultural procession passed the Fire Brigade point, the traffic personnel were caught in a fix as they were unable to restore smooth movement of vehicles.
The problem was further compounded when bike riders, without waiting for their turn, sped ahead from all directions and were stuck in the middle of the road. None of the bikers could move since they were obstructing each other’s movement.
The common people were badly affected by the traffic jam. Many of the people were forced to walk on foot as local cabs were caught in the jam.