SHILLONG: Facing criticism from the Opposition for Meghalaya Basin Development Authority (MBDA) not consulting the villagers for the preservation of living root bridges, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said all stakeholders will be consulted.
Replying to a zero hour notice moved by Congress legislator H M Shangpliang, the chief minister said in the Assembly on Tuesday that the government was committed to protect and promote the living root bridges of the state. He said consultants have been hired, who in consultation with the stakeholders, are moving ahead so that the living root bridges could be enlisted under UNSESCO’s World Heritage sites.
Sangma said the MBDA is taking everyone into confidence while conducting the survey. He added that as many as 26 open community dialogues have been conducted by MBDA covering more than 1300 stakeholders to seek their views and opinions on the matter.
He said the individuals who alleged of being sidelined by the MBDA, attended four of the 26 open community dialogues. Stating that the selection of the consultants has been done as per the norms of the World Bank, Sangma asserted that MBDA is developing scientific process and required guidelines for the protection of the unique bridges found in Meghalaya.
Stating that the bridges are under threat due to heavy rush of people and environmental degradation, he added the deterioration of the bridges is taking place at a rapid pace as per the reports.
According to Sangma, the MBDA is developing scientific process and guidelines to protect the bridges while informing the House that the MDA is placing the draft guidelines and regulations before the community for their views and suggestions. “We also need experts to guide us to get the UN tag as experts know how to get such tags,” the chief minister said. ) Earlier, Shangpliang said the stakeholders of the unique bridges under the banner of Living Root Foundation have been allegedly sidelined by MBDA in the process of securing a UNESCO heritage tag.
He said the government should have appointed the local stakeholders who had nurtured the bridges for years as consultants rather than individuals from outside the state.
Later, speaking to reporters, Shangpliang said a self styled expert from outside the state who had stayed with the villagers, took away the knowledge from them and presented papers in an international forum.
“The same person was appointed as the consultant instead of the villagers, who have better knowledge about the living root bridges”, he added.
