SHILLONG: Shella Tourism, supported by the Special Purpose Vehicle Society (SPVS), was launched on Friday to give a fillip to the tourism sector in this East Khasi Hills village. But hurdles on the way to achieve the goal remain.
The dilapidated condition of the approach road to Shella, a quaint village situated around 90 km from Shillong, poses a hindrance to locals who want to promote the place as a tourist destination.
The road from Lad Tyrna to Mawlong is marred with eroded stones, potholes which deters tourists from visiting the place.
Speaking on the road condition, East Khasi Hills Deputy Commissioner PS Dkhar, who inaugurated the scheme, told media persons that the road needs immediate repair and “we have to look into it whether the PWD will be able to do it or we should fund from SPVS”.
Dkhar, who is the CEO of the Special Purpose Vehicle Society, said the first thing people ask is about the road and if the pathway is not good then tourists would not like to come for a longer distance to this place.
The PWD may have a set of projects but the SPVS may not be able to fund the entire road, the Deputy Commissioner added.
Stating that road has to be developed for promotion of tourism, the DC said, “So we have to take the vital ones at one time, one financial year we may take two-three roads phase-wise.”
Speaking on the tourism initiative, the DC said this is a new project as SPVS did not think about tourism sector till the Shella Dorbar went to Dkhar with the proposal to encourage and initiate tourism.
The Dorbar found that tourism is an alternate source of livelihood that can provide employment to the youth.
He said under SPVS, there are 55 villages. “We are looking in terms of infrastructure projects, water supply and tourism is one sector where we will encourage them to start with,” he added. The programme on Friday was organised by the Village Dorbar and Shella Village Tourism Promotion and Management Society and was sponsored by the Lafarge Umiam Mining Private Limited and SPVS.
Stressing on infrastructure and livelihood of the people, Dkhar said that people in the village may be interested to take up livelihood projects like horticulture, weaving and others or an individual household getting sponsors if they want to take up something.
Meanwhile, Roy Kupar Synrem, secretary of Shella village said, “Most tourists end up in Sohra as they don’t want to come here as there is no infrastructure. We want people to visit the village, we can promote camping, trekking routes, link other villages, water sports.” He added that they have sent youth of the village to be trained with regard to water safety and training in other capacities.
On the day that the tourism initiative was launched, around 12 tents were pitched near the river bank. People also enjoyed boat rides, beach soccer and fishing.
A waste management campaign 2017 CSR initiative for support of Health Services was also organised.
