By Our Reporter
Mawphlang, Sep 4: In what may be termed a zealous essay to promote tourism in the state, festivals are being revived and new ones introduced. That being so, the ‘bigger and better’ monolith festival is set to make a comeback after seven years.
The festival last conducted in 2016 was halted due to fund constraints earlier; however, the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) is collaborating with the tourism department of the state to host the festival in a bid to highlight the Khasi cultures and traditions. The festival is to be held in the Khasi Heritage village, Mawphlang from the 4th to 9th of December, informed Pyniaid Sing Syiem, Chief Executive Member (CEM), KHADC.
The Heritage Village showcases the rich Khasi culture and tradition in its full representation and the monolith festival is aimed at mirroring this to the larger audience, out there.
The CEM also added the KHADC does not have much role in allotting tenders to event management companies as that is to be taken care of by the state government, however they are expecting it to be done by experts and professionals in this field so that the festival is a huge success and it caters to not only nationwide tourists but also foreigners.
The KHADC delegation led by Syiem with KHADC Chairman Lamphrang Blah and other executive members along with representatives of the state tourism and the Hima Mawphalang visited to inspect the site and look into what needs to be done before the festival.
“We found out that some minor repairing and renovation needs to be done, and we leave it to the tourism department to do the necessary,” Syiem mentioned.
The representatives of the tourism department included the assistant director of tourism, Phillip Marwein and executive engineer of the tourism department, M Marbaniang who inspected the area and would float a tender in a week’s time, informed Syiem.
The CEM also added that the museum being constructed in the heritage village has already been sanctioned by the KHADC and the contractor is supposed to complete the work in one month’s time.
The festival is aimed to be a mix of food, music and everything that is traditional to the Khasis.