Meghalaya is soon going to lose its pristine beauty which is its unique selling point. Anyone who passes through the Umiam Lake Viewpoint on a given day will see the load of garbage strewn all along that venue. It’s as if people don’t know to use the garbage bins. On the opposite side of the same venue all the men get out of their vehicles and relieve themselves in full public view. This is a complete mockery of the Swacch Bharat campaign. There is a toilet just a few metres ahead but no takes the trouble to go there. Knowing that Indians don’t follow any laws, there should have been a couple of tourist policemen/women to tell people off so that the actions are not repeated. In fact, if people who urinate in the open are fined heavily the message will travel faster and compliance might become easier. But things carry on the way they used to and all that the hawkers there are interested in is to sell their wares. There is nothing progressive about that kind of irresponsible hawking.
Next is the case of the so-called “day travellers” from the neighbouring states. They are no asset to tourism since they spend nothing; not on food; not even on local conveyance. But they crowd up the tourist spots turning them into noisy, claustrophobic spaces particularly on weekends, making it impossible for the locals to venture out beyond Shillong.
The costing for most tourist destinations is a measly sum. While nature is a free gift, the carrying capacity of a place and the carbon footprints left behind by unconcerned, ugly tourists have to be reversed by nature. Mawlynnong is a perfect example of a tourist destination that is short-sold. People pay a paltry Rs 20 to step on the living root bridge – a heritage left behind by the ancestors. There must be a modicum of reverence for it. But there is not even a tourist guide competent enough to explain this. The scene is repeated even in the newly discovered touristy venues. Meghalaya has much to give but gets back little in return. This is not the tourism that Meghalaya and its people will benefit from. Rather, tourism as it is today will turn Meghalaya into a shabby, over-exposed destination. Tourists with spending capacity will avoid crowded spaces. They pay to connect with nature; they value the silence but that is what is evading them today.
All this is because there is no Tourism Policy!