My plan and idea is when people go there for the Me’gong festival, they can actually go and stay in a Khasi village.
– Conrad K Sangma, Chief Minister
Shillong, Aug 18: The Meghalaya government has bought 96 acres of land in Rongalgre, East Garo Hills, for a permanent venue for the Me’gong Festival that will feature replica villages of Khasi, Jaintia and Garo tribes to give tourists a firsthand experience of tribal life.
Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma announced the project on Tuesday while addressing the launch of “Ki Dienjat – Revisiting the Roots” at Taraghar State Guest House.
“Very soon, of course this is still in the planning stage only, but I am happy to share that we have just recently planned for a permanent location for the Me’gong festival at a place called Rongalgre in East Garo Hills,” Sangma said.
“About 96 acres of land have been bought and we have started the work. In that place, we are actually planning to put up different villages of our different tribes,” he said.
The CM said the idea is to create an immersive cultural space where visitors can live like the communities they are visiting.
“My plan and idea is when people go there for the Me’gong festival, they can actually go and stay in a Khasi village. When you go in there, there will be people who will be dressed, and you will be dressed as a Khasi person. You will stay there as Khasis would stay in villages and you will experience the entire aspect of how a Khasi village and culture is, by staying there,” Sangma said.
He added that similar setups would be created for other communities. “Similarly, we will have the Garo village, we have different Jaintia, Pnar, War — you name it, as many as possible. We will have different villages within that space so that we are able to allow the experience to our guests and tourists who will be coming from different locations,” he said.
Linking the project to the state’s cultural policy, Sangma said such initiatives are vital to preserve identity amid rapid change.
“The reason why we are doing this is because we have always believed that for us as a society, for us as a community and a state, it is absolutely important for us to ground ourselves, to connect with our roots, to be able to create our identity, because at the end of the day that is what matters,” he said.
“It is even more important when it comes to the younger generation that is there today, who is completely involved in so many aspects of the global, in terms of social media. It is so easy to lose track of who you are. Therefore, I feel it is more important that these kinds of things must be pushed more and more, and that is why I really want our youngsters to be involved,” the Chief Minister added.
