By Barnes Mawrie
Meghalaya is one of the few states which is not self reliant. We are strong neither in agricultural nor in industrial sectors. The State is dependent for all its food supplies on other states like Andhra Pradesh, Punjab etc. Even the fish and the eggs we consume daily come all the way from Andhra. It is a pity that we subsist on endorsement by the Central Government. Today with the BJP at the centre and the Congress in the State, there is financial crunch which keeps the State Government at bay. As of today, Meghalaya is a penniless state and consequently development projects are kept suspended. The step-motherly attitude of the Central Government and the politics of vendetta are causing painful ripples in the state. The government is feeling the pinch of such a hostile policy and so too the public. We may blame the Central Government for all these maladies, but we should not lose sight of what our State leaders have failed to do for the past four decades since our statehood in 1972. Forty four years is a long enough period for any state to develop. Yet in Meghalaya we seem to be backtracking in our journey of progress. It is a fact that we are agriculturally and industrially weak because we lack the necessary infrastructure and human resources for all these.
Meghalaya has been gifted with incomparable natural beauty which no other state perhaps can match. It is enough to travel from Shillong to Sohra or to Nongstoin for one to witness the exquisite scenic beauty of our state. We have beautiful green mountains, crystal clear rivers and streams, legendary waterfalls, captivating mountain caves with awe-inspiring rock formations, wide variety of flora and fauna. God has been good to us in giving our state such a wealth of natural resource. Unfortunately, all these God-given gifts are wasted down the drain because we have leaders who lack a sense of vision and mission. It is exactly as they say “throwing pearls to the swine” who do not know the value of pearls and so they trample them under foot. God will be disappointed with us because we have not used the gifts he has given us responsibly as we should. We seem to be living the irony of “beggars with golden begging bowls.”
Meghalaya’s scenic beauty is a gold mine we are sitting on but which we have not exploited fully. Here is an incredible touristic opportunity that we have failed to utilize. Our state does not need agricultural or industrial enterprises for it can survive, nay thrive on tourism alone. In other parts of the world or India, people spend fortune to create artificial tourist spots but here in our state everything is naturally given. It is a pity that our government has never given enough importance to tourism. This is evident from the lack of infrastructure which would promote tourism like good roads, good transport and communication connectivity, adequate number of tourist facilities (hotels, restaurants, eateries, recreation parks etc).
Recently, I had been with my friends to Nongkhnum. What impressed me was the unique scenic beauty of that place. However, what depressed me was the horrifying journey from Nongstoin to that location. The road is full of potholes and dust and it takes more than an hour to cover a distance of about 20 km. It was a back-breaking journey we had. Which tourist would venture to such a place beautiful though it may be? On reaching the place we discovered that no tourist facilities are found anywhere except for one or two small shops selling chips, fruit juice and kwai. We were just remarking how the whole of West Khasi Hills could survive on tourism if our leaders had the vision to develop such places into standard tourist spots. Nongkhnum alone could become a tourist hotspot and it could generate thousands of jobs for the people of the place and boost their economy. I have witnessed people in these places eking out their living from a miserable practice of burning charcoal. In fact, trees are being demolished because of this kind of occupation and charcoal industry is in fact the curse of West Khasi Hills. At the same time, forbidding people from such means of livelihood without offering them an alternative is quite inhuman. It is here that the government should have thought of developing tourism on a war-footing. If states like Goa or even Sikkim in our own region, are able to capitalize on tourism prospects in their own land, how unfortunate that Meghalaya is not capable of doing this.
It is my opinion that our leaders should turn their attention to tourism more than to other enterprises. Recently, the International Terra Madre Festival and the South Asian Games were a big boon to tourism. However, the state could have gained more from such international events had touristic infrastructure been in place already. Everyone knows that Shillong did not even have adequate hotels to accommodate the foreign visitors and sports persons. The so called “wettest place on earth” (Sohra) which has been a well known tourist spot for many decades, is without much development even today. Tourist facilities are so limited that it does not leave a positive impression on visitors and local residents remain as poor as ever due to lack of economic opportunities. The question we keep asking is “when will Meghalaya become a tourist-economy state?” I can state with confidence that with tourism our state can become self sufficient, self dependent and our people will prosper beyond expectation.