SHILLONG: Mawlynnong, the cleanest village in Asia has added another feather to its cap after the village was awarded the India Today Safaigiri Award 2017.
The award was presented by the Vice President of India, M Venkaiah Naidu in New Delhi on October 2.
The executive member of Mawlynnong village, Mathew Khongsar who received the award, said that they were proud of Mawlynnong and the award would inspire them to make Mawlynnong a better village in future.
Khongsar said that there was an increase of 15-20 percent of tourists in the village since last year and it had become slightly difficult for them to manage all the vehicles which throngs the village every day.
However, with the help of local MLA Prestone Tynsong, the village authorities are now constructing a new parking lot.
He said that they faced difficulty to some extent as some people don’t understand the concept of the village and kept on littering the village and therefore, the village was now taking stern action against those who littered the village.
Khongsar said that on an average, around 100 vehicles full of tourists throng the village every day and numbers increased to almost 500 vehicles per day during the recent holidays on the occasion of Durga puja.
Mawlynnong, is famous for its cleanliness and natural attraction and was awarded the prestigious tag of ‘Cleanest Village in Asia’ in 2003 by Discover India Magazine.