SHILLONG: The Chairman of Synjuk ki Nongialam in Ri Bhoi, Sunlight Shadap, has said some facts in the souvenir released during the closing ceremony of the district’s silver jubilee on June 9 are wrong.
Shadap told reporters on Monday that an article in the souvenir mentioned that former Chief Minister DD Lapang dropped out of matriculation due to financial difficulties.
However, the article mentioned that after he dropped out of school, Lapang joined Basic Training School, Malki, and later Saiden Basic School, Nongpoh. It also said Lapang passed his matriculation as a private candidate.
Shadap pointed out that the souvenir contained photographs of picturesque Ri Bhoi but with wrong captions.
“There was a picture of Shillong airport which was captioned as ‘Shillong Airport at Bhoi-Rymbong instead of Umroi. Again, they took a photograph of Umiam Lake and captioned it as Dwar Ksuid,” he said.
The list of mistakes does not end there, Shadap said as he explained that the name of the first KHADC chairman from the district, Glorsing Lyngdoh, was not published and “wrong names were printed leading to misinformation”.
Shadap also took exception to the negligence of the district administration of Ri Bhoi and the organising committee of the silver jubilee celebrations to shun three constituencies.
“Ri Bhoi (East)-Umroi, Ri Bhoi (West)-Jirang and Ri Bhoi (North)-Mawhati were neglected whereas the focus of the celebrations was from Umsning to Nongpoh. We were not invited to be a part of the silver jubilee celebration. People from the three parts of Ri Bhoi were not part of the editorial board although they are fit enough to be so,” Shadap said.
“It shows that they are playing games as most of the members of the editorial board are people from outside the district and hence they carry no sense of responsibility,” he added.
He rued that the closing ceremony ended with a DJ night and the blasting music affected the neighbouring villages. “There were immoral dances as well,” he added.
The members of the editorial board of the souvenir, which included supervisor Desmond Kharmawphlang and editor Kyrmenlang Uriah, are not from Ri Bhoi, it was pointed out.
They stated that a written petition will be sent to the district administration within a week.
“99 per cent of the write-ups are in English though there are numerous people who are still illiterate. Only two articles were published in Khasi,” was another drawback that Shadap pointed out.
Referring to the favourite places in Ri Bhoi as published in the souvenir, Shadap said, “The souvenir said favourite places in Ri Bhoi are only six. However, there are so many beautiful places in Ri Bhoi.”
He said that there are historical places in the district which includes a home carved from a rock, Lum mynken at Bhoi Rymbong, Mawiambei, Mawlynthaw at Mawhati, rivers, waterfalls at Iapngar known as Kshaid Tyrsha etc.
Another member of the Synjuk, Shalan Sylliang said that the famous Amur Falcon festival and the World Cup insect which appears after every four years, usually ahead of World Cup Football tournament were left out from the souvenir.
“There are many printing mistakes which look like the articles were not edited,” Shadap said.
