By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, July 6: The Tour Guides Association of Meghalaya has sought the intervention of the KHADC to enhance their livelihood.
In a memorandum to KHADC Chief Executive Member (CEM), Pyniaid Sing Syiem, here on Thursday, the general secretary of the association, Gerald S Duia, asked the Council to make it mandatory for every tour operator and agency doing tourism business in Meghalaya to hire a professional guide or local guide in their packages and trips.
He also pointed out that there are tour guides/ trip leaders from other states working in Meghalaya without proper knowledge about the place and its history. “It has come to our notice that there are many non-tribal tour guides/trip leaders from outside the state doing tour guiding in the state without a trading licence from the Council. This is unfair for other guides who are tax payers,” Duia said, adding that they will disseminate wrong information.
He also tried to bring to the notice of the CEM the reported business of ferrying tourists by non-tribal transporters in private vehicles belonging to other states.
“This is an unfair trade practice and is paving way to stealing of jobs when our very own youths are deprived of employment and livelihood in our very own state. This also leads to unfair practices to our own transporters who are taxpayers and on the other hand this is illegal, since private vehicles are for private use only,” he said.
The CEM, after heeding the points mentioned by the association, said that the issue would be taken up in the meeting of the Executive Committee to find a way to regulate the tour guides or tour operators from outside. “We will see how to resolve the problem of the youth who have done their specialization in the field of tourism,” Syiem added.
