SHILLONG: After formally notifying the conversion of Tara Ghar, a former official residence of several chief ministers of Meghalaya into a State Guest House in August last year, the State government is contemplating to formally inaugurate the State Guest House by June this year.
“We have completed the renovation work of Tara Ghar. We would start the furnishing work once we get the sanction from the government,” State Estate Officer L. Shabong informed here on Wednesday.
According to him, they have proposed a total amount of Rs.37.39 lakh for the furnishing work.
Meanwhile, he said that as part of the renovation work, they have replaced the old wooden planks with floor tiles adding that they have also re-painted the whole bungalow.
It may be mentioned that Meghalaya does not have an official guest house since the Brightwell Bungalow at Barik Point, which earlier functioned as the State guest house, was converted into an official residence for ministers and legislators.
It may be mentioned that the Brightwell House was first occupied by late F.A. Khonglam during his tenure as the chief minister.
The bungalow was then occupied by H.D.R. Lyngdoh and Bindo Mathew Lanong during their tenure as minister and deputy chief minister, respectively. The bungalow is now being occupied by former Assembly Speaker Martin M Danggo.
Interestingly, the last chief minister of Meghalaya to have lived at Tara Ghar was J.D. Rymbai. After Rymbai, none of the subsequent chief ministers including D.D. Lapang, Donkupar Roy and Mukul Sangma occupied Tara Ghar despite it being maintained as an official residence of the chief minister.
The only other chief ministers, apart from Rymbai, to had occupied Tara Ghar are Salseng C Marak and late E.K. Mawlong.
The official chief minister’s bungalow is now known as Good Wood at Oakland near Polo Grounds, constructed at the cost of around Rs.10 crore and is presently being occupied by Mukul Sangma.
It may be mentioned that the High Power Committee of the Assembly under then Speaker Charles Pyngrope had proposed to dismantle the Tara Ghar for construction of a permanent Assembly building.
However, this proposal was strongly opposed by several organizations, especially Informed Conscious And Responsible Existence (ICARE), who termed Tara Ghar as a heritage building.
ICARE had even filed a PIL in 2012 before the erstwhile Shillong Bench of the Gauhati High Court against the proposed move to construct a new Assembly building at Tara Ghar.
The court had also ordered that Tara Ghar should not be demolished.
It may be mentioned that the Division Bench of the High Court of Meghalaya had sent a proposal to the State Government to convert the heritage Tara Ghar building into a High Court Guest House.
While hearing the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by ICARE opposing the move by the Government to construct the Assembly Secretariat building at Tara Ghar on Monday, the Division Bench comprising of then Chief Justice T. Meena Kumari and Justice T. Nandakumar Singh passed an order where it was stated that a proposal has been meted out by this court to the learned State Advocate General K.S. Kynjing to convey to the State Government to convert the said building as a ‘High Court Guest House’ in view of the inconveniences cause to the learned judges of the Supreme Court and high courts who visit the State.
