SHILLONG: Social Welfare Minister Deborah Marak has expressed concern over the prevailing ‘gun culture’ compared to the promotion of one’s own culture and tradition.
Speaking at the concluding function of Attong Chywgyn Festival at Siju, South Garo Hills on Friday, Marak said, “We Garos are simple and humble in nature but in the present day, we are adopting bad culture from outside and the worst form of culture we adopted from outside is gun culture”.
The two-day cultural bonanza of Attong Chywgyn Festival ended on Friday with variety entertainments and cultural shows.
According to Marak, the Garos were peace loving and merry making people but ” our newly adopted culture is creating a threat to our selves”.
She urged the younger generation to examine carefully the steps they take and do what is good and discard what is bad. “Try not to be liabilities to our state but try to be the assets”, she asserted.
The legislator of Rongara- Siju constituency and Parliamentary Secretary Rophul S Marak sponsored the fest with the support of Siju based NGOs .
She said the local legislator is trying his level best to protect the cultural heritage and tradition of Attongs which are in the verge of extinction by sponsoring and organising Chywgn Festival every year at Siju.
Tourism-alternate to Coal mining
According to the Minister, as a substitution to coal mining, the next step to generate revenue and to accelerate economic development is to learn how to promote tourism in the district.
South Garo Hills is known for coal mining and related activities.
” We have so many beautiful places in South Garo Hills like Balpakram National Park, Siju Cave, Siju Wild Life Sanctuary, Siju Bird sanctuary, Goera Pattal Lake, and water ways from Siju to Baghmara besides various newly explored caves”, the Minister said.
She said by selling the beauty of the state to other parts of India, economic transformation will take place. “Unless we change our mindset, unless our security problem is settled, the people from other parts of the country will not come to explore the beauty of our district”, she said.
She further appealed the gathering to join together to transform the beautiful place into a tourist destination and added that efforts should be made to preserve and protect the rich cultural heritages and bio diversity of the region while promoting tourism.
