Shillong, Nov 11: The battle over the Shillong Peak Ropeway has turned into a battle of voices — and now the government is asking everyone to come to the table.
The Tourism Department on Wednesday made it clear: its doors are open. To the Joint Action Committee, to mothers, to citizens, to every organisation that has questions about the project.
The offer is flexible. A formal meeting with all stakeholders. A one-to-one meeting with the Department. Or even an informal chat with senior officers. The choice is theirs.
The Department said it understands the emotion behind the protest — the love for U Lum Shyllong and the fear over Shillong’s water. It said that fear is shared, not dismissed, and every question raised so far has been answered on record.
And it has laid out its diary to prove it.
On August 8, officials from Tourism, PHED, Forest and the Shillong Municipal Board walked the site with the Raid Laban Dorbar Pyllun to check the water sources. On October 15, the Joint Action Committee was briefed by the project’s environmental specialist in a meeting chaired by the Commissioner and Secretary, Tourism. On October 22, headmen of all seven localities, the Committee, PHED, the Municipal Board, technical agencies and the press were called for a stakeholders’ meeting. On November 4, a big public consultation was held at the State Convention Centre, with the ropeway designers joining online. On November 5, the Director of Tourism renewed the invitation once again.
On water, the Department’s answer is firm. Maps shown at the meetings place the springs 500 metres to one kilometre away from the alignment. The towers sit on a ridge with no water sources beneath them, and the Mawphlang dam catchment is on a completely different ridge.
On trees, the design was changed. When tall trees were found on the line, the ropeway was lifted higher, so cabins glide above the forest canopy and cutting is cut down to the minimum.
On wildlife, an Environment and Social Impact Assessment has been done and checked by independent experts. A camera trap study was done with the Forest Department, and a management plan will run before, during and after construction.
On land, the lower terminal at Madan Laban will come up on an old Forest Department nursery, while the upper terminal below Shillong Viewpoint is on land handed over by the Raid Laban Dorbar Pyllun. The ropeway will carry only passengers, not goods, built to European safety standards and reviewed by an IIT.
On clearances, the Department said NOCs have come from the Indian Air Force, the Indian Army and the Airports Authority of India, and ropeways of this kind are exempt from environmental clearance under the Union Environment Ministry’s notification.
The 913-metre ropeway from Madan Laban to Shillong Peak, funded by the New Development Bank and PM-DevINE, promises easier access to the Peak and new livelihoods for local youth, homestays and small businesses.
The government’s message now is simple, ask anything, meet anytime. The project, it says, will move forward with every assessment in the open.
