SHILLONG: The Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) may shift the venue for the Monolith Festival to Mawpdang village from Mawphlang.
The Mawpdang village heads have also been informed about the move by the KHADC.
Speaking to a section of reporters, KHADC Executive Member (EM) in charge of Arts and Culture, Rangkynsai Kharbuki said, “We want to shift the Monolith Festival to another venue. We may move to Mawpdang”.
Asked about why the KHADC rooted for Mawpdang, Kharbuki pointed out that the share accruing from the festival was 50-50 which is not enough to build Council funds.
“We have had talks with the Hima Mawphlang to go for a 75-25 per cent split in which 75 per cent will be for the Council and 25 per cent for the Hima. However, the Hima Mawphlang did not agree”, he said.
Kharbuki asserted that the KHADC has to shell out funds for maintenance and at the same time pay the salaries of 4 to 5 casual employees in Mawphlang Heritage Village. In this regard, he said most of the expenditure is borne by the Council and that 50 per cent is not sufficient.
“Moreover, the weather condition in Mawphlang is very windy and we have to repair the heritage huts every year”, he said.
Another reason why the KHADC thought of Mawpdang is because the village will be easily accessible to people coming from Jaintia Hills, Ri-Bhoi and West Khasi Hills where different routes can be taken to reach the venue.
He said that Mawphlang is congested and that there is only one route to the venue.
“Talks to take the venue of the Monolith Festival to Mawpdang is still on. The tentative date to hold the festival will be in the month of January”, he said adding that that the council will stress on getting 75-80 per cent share for the Council funds.
The KHADC’s plan is to venture in self-supporting projects and he expressed dismay that holding the festival in Mawphlang has not helped the KHADC in generating enough funds which will be of benefit to the Arts and Culture department.
“The budget for the Arts and Culture department is very less where each MDC gets Rs 30,000 as scheme. It is the most important department which has been entrusted with the task of maintaining and preserving the tradition and culture of the Khasis”, he said.
With an aim to improve the functioning of the department, Kharbuki said that the department will look at ways and means to revive and strengthen the institutions and academies that teach traditional music and the Khasi language.
The KHADC had spent several crores of rupees to organise the Monolith Festival throughout the years.
Mawpdang does not have the required infrastructure in comparison to Mawphlang as the utilities to turn it into a festival-ready place are yet to be developed. However, Mawphlang already has a number of traditional huts and construction of a traditional museum is going on.
