By Our Reporter
Shillong: It took almost 70 years for Sohra, which is the birth place of legendary Khasi poet U Soso Tham, to finally install two life-size statues of the bard in the area. The statues, which arrived from Kolkata, would be placed at the Cherra Presbyterian School, Nongsawlia and Madan Shad (Dancing ground) of the Seng Khasi at Upper Sohra.
Informing this here recently, Parliamentary Secretary in charge of Tourism and Sohra legislator PW Khongjee said the two life-sized statues of the legendary Khasi Poet will be erected sometime towards the end of September.
The statues were carved in Kolkata at a total expense of Rs 50 lakh. Pointing out that Sohra has often fell short in its endeavours to give due respect to the poet Khongjee said, “Because of this, we have decided to honour the Khasi poet by erecting his statues so as to provide a glimpse of the great man’s contributions to the state” the Sohra legislator said.
“We hope that through these statues, the youth of the area will be encouraged to follow the footsteps of the great poet who is also a Messiah of the Khasi community”, Khongjee added.
The overall work had been undertaken with the cooperation of SDO (Civil)-Sohra, Khasi Author’s Society, family members of U Soso Tham and the U Soso Tham Celebration Committee.