Spiritual leader and global peace activist, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar who visited Shillong after 14 years remarked that the city has become filthy and its open drains which are also dumping ground for garbage could pose serious health hazards. Sri Sri arrived in Shillong on Monday afternoon. In the two days that he has moved around the city he has been able to get an overview of the civic status of this hill station. The spiritual leader also observed that the buildings could be planned better. Sri Sri challenged the disciples of the Art of Living to get together and clean up the city and not just look to the Government to do the job.
The Wah Umkhrah has become an eyesore not just for visitors but also for the citizens of Shillong. What is lacking is concerted effort. At the moment there are two types of residents, one the polluters; the other the onlookers who feel certain pangs about the filth around them but are helpless to do anything about it. The point is to form a coalition of stakeholders and to rope in the Government as a key partner. There has been an overdose of blame game in Meghalaya. The Umkhrah River belongs to all. If it is restored and cleaned up it will bring pride to all Shillongites. Shillong is the drawing room of Meghalaya. In their own homes people keep their drawing rooms spick and span and well decorated. But there is no single organisation to take on the challenge of cleaning up the mess of Shillong. One of the reasons why this problem has become intractable is because implementation of Government or Dorbar Shnong diktats is weak. Signboards that prohibit littering usually have a lot of litter under them. That’s the kind of respect that people have for the law. Indeed, the inherent sense of lawlessness among the citizens of Shillong is what makes the job of law enforcers that much more difficult.
A time has come to take stock of the city and for caring and compassionate individuals to get together and restore the health and hygiene of Shillong.