‘Ready to resolve any genuine environmental concerns’
Shillong, Nov 3: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma has termed unfortunate the protests over the Shillong Ropeway project, especially after “all clarifications made”, and warned that such opposition would harm employment prospects of the youth.
“It is really unfortunate. There were concerns raised by certain organizations and individuals and the department has clarified on almost all fronts,” Sangma told reporters on Monday in reply to a query on the protests over the ropeway project.
“My concern right now is to find out what are the concerns… if there are any genuine issues, we should talk about it and figure it out, but opposing for the sake of opposing is not really a healthy trend in governance and in politics in general,” Sangma said.
Expressing that genuine concerns must be backed by reasoning, he said, “You will have to back your concerns with real reasoning… if there are issues, and if they are genuine, we will discuss it, we have no problem in that.”
The Chief Minister also reminded that the project has been vetted by expert agencies for over two years, saying, “…all different aspects of environment and all other issues, most of them, in fact all of them I should say, have been addressed and taken care of.”
He mentioned that officials concerned have already clarified all the points and that the “clarifications are quite clear”.
“I don’t see why it should be stopped now and since concerns have been addressed, we should move forward,” he added.
Citing the stress in the employment sector and the prospects brought by the ropeway project, he said, “We all talk about job creation and complain that there are not enough jobs for our youth…This project is going to boost tourism to a new level and the kind of opportunities that will come out of this are going to be huge.”
“There will be hundreds, even thousands of youths who will get direct employment and thousands will get indirect employment,” he said.
He expressed concern over any opposition to the project affecting the employment opportunities, saying, “If you are opposing this, you are affecting the livelihood and employment opportunities of our youth. We have to remember that.”
“We are losing out on employment opportunities, which is one of the major aspects and reasons why we are pushing this project. In a way those opposing this project are opposing livelihood opportunities that our youths can get because of this project,” Sangma said.
However, the Chief Minister said the government is ready to resolve any genuine environmental issues.
“If there is an environmental concern, we are ready to discuss and address those issues but as far as my knowledge goes and all explanations given, there is no such issue,” he said.
On the timing of the protest, he said, “This is not something we just started doing yesterday. It has been going on for the past two and a half years, if there were major concerns, they could have been raised a long time back…”
“…timing also is something that is of concern. But what is important for us is to resolve the issue, move forward, see that the project is completed and ensure jobs are created for our youth,” he said.
On action against the KHADC official, Sangma said, “We have followed the rules and the law and whatever action has to be taken will be taken. Whoever the officer concerned from KHADC, who has gone ahead and done this, based on legal provisions, the state will act and the law will take its own course.”
