Editor,
The Government of Meghalaya loudly promotes “Responsible Tourism” a fancy slogan wrapped around eco-tours, homestays, and big music festivals meant to turn Shillong into a global hotspot. But beneath this polished image lies a harsh reality: while pouring crores into attracting stars like Ed Sheeran and building luxury hotels like Vivanta and Marriott, the government is allowing Pinewood Hotel, the soul of Shillong’s heritage tourism, to wither away in bureaucratic neglect.
Built in 1898 by a Swiss couple, Pinewood is not just the oldest hotel in Northeast India. It is a living piece of history. It once sheltered British tea planters, served as a hospital during World War II, and hosted dignitaries like the Dalai Lama. For decades, tourists from mainland India dreamed of staying in this classic “Assam-type” heritage hotel.
Today, Pinewood runs on only four regular staff. Everyone else is on a temporary contract. The legendary Pinewood Bar is managed by a single bartender during peak season, left alone to serve hordes of frustrated guests and tourists. When government officers host private lunch or dinner parties, they pull Pinewood’s already thin staff away leaving guests stranded in what was once Shillong’s most welcoming place.
This is not mismanagement. It is deliberate erosion- a calculated withdrawal of support to clear space for private profit. When a government lets a historic institution like Pinewood operate without a permanent manager, with almost no staff, and no plan to replace key roles like bartenders or housekeepers, it is not an oversight, it is policy by omission. By cutting investment, moving official events to corporate hotels, and even privatising part of Meghalaya Tourism’s own land, the government is ensuring Pinewood fades until its decay “justifies” its removal. This is not neglect. It is institutional sabotage dressed as fiscal prudence, where heritage becomes collateral damage in the rush to rebrand Shillong for global investors, not its own people.
While the Chief Minister’s Grassroots Music Programme makes headlines, Pinewood, our true cultural treasure, is quietly sidelined. Revenue has plummeted, not because Pinewood lost its charm, but because government functions, once its lifeline, now go to Marriott and Vivanta. Public money flows to these private chains, while Pinewood stands silent, its manager’s post vacant since Mr Das retired.
Let us look at who enables this decay. The privatisation of the Mawdiangdiang Pinewood Annexe, a piece of public heritage, was pushed through under the excuse of “modernisation,” handing it over to private hands. At the same time, the Urban Development Department, working with the Shillong Municipal Board, gave away prime civic land for the Marriott Hotel, offering only the empty promise that “one floor” would house municipal offices.
These are not visionaries. They are leeches dressed as leaders, sucking the life out of public heritage to feed real estate deals, all while mouthing sweet words about culture and progress.
How can Meghalaya claim to be a “music capital” or a model of “responsible tourism” when it cannot even protect the place where Shillong’s history, hospitality, and identity truly meet?
Pinewood is not just a hotel. It is a mirror. And in its cracked windows, we see the true face of a government that rolls out the red carpet for five-star chains but abandons the soul of Shillong in its oldest home. If this is development, then it has no memory, no conscience, and no honour.
Yours etc.,
Thomas Jones Wahlang,
Via email
The root cause of the decline of humanity
Editor,
The news-item – “Intelligence agencies warn of plot to push infiltrators into India via Bangladesh,” published on December 23 in this daily should put the entire population of the Northeast into a pensive mood. While Bangladesh is in turmoil for various reasons, certain forces are actively plotting strategies to even drive infiltrators into the peaceful states of the region. How can we brush this aside when the safety and security of the Northeast are at stake? Mind it, but the roar of vengeance that often echoes from across our neighbouring countries must not catch us off guard.
Just look at how minority communities are picked up, inhumanely tortured, and even killed in broad daylight on false accusations. A poor factory worker, Dipu Chandra Das was inhumanely tortured and killed on charges of blasphemy. However, the investigations carried out by the Police and the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) found no evidence to back those claims. They were false, fabricated, and unsubstantiated.
Noted lawyer from Bangladesh and human rights activist Parvez Hashem rightly points out that apart from minority Hindus, even Christians are caught between the devil and the deep sea. Over the last few months, Christians in Dhaka have faced terrifying bomb blasts that panicked an already vulnerable population. On October 8, a homemade bomb exploded at the gate of the old Holy Rosary Catholic Church. Then on November 7, St. Mary’s Cathedral was bombed, with police discovering another device close by. Again, the next day, November 8, a blast struck St. Joseph’s Higher Secondary School, where children study and hope for a better tomorrow. What is it that makes one see the innocent with such hatred?
Yes, I agree with Amir Yaseen Khan for stating in his letter dated December 23, titled “Objectionable Letter,” that Islam never supports intolerance, cruelty, or bloodshed of any kind. An eminent Islamic scholar from Assam, Maulana Nurul Amin Qasimi, also strongly condemned the violence against minorities in Bangladesh. He directly urged Bangladeshis to stop targeting Hindus, Christians, or Buddhists, emphasizing that such brutal attacks go completely against Islamic teachings of peace and tolerance.
Of course, every religion shows its believers the pathway to humanity and then divinity. Yet, tragically, the hatred against fellow brothers continues unabated. In just six months, how many innocent lives have been attacked and lost in these barbaric blasts or mass shootings — be they Hindu, Muslim, Christian or Jewish. Are we not the human beings first? Do the same breath and the same heartbeat not echo through each of us? Why has compassion, a true human virtue, been replaced by hatred and ultimately bloodshed?
Yours etc.,
Salil Gewali,
Shillong
