‘60% accommodation units using tourism app to register guests’
Shillong, June 18: To ensure safety of all tourists, the state government has decided to take a multipronged approach, including compulsory registration of visitors and installation of CCTVs in prime tourist destinations.
Informing this, tourism minister Paul Lyngdoh on Tuesday said all accommodation units would now compulsorily register their guests through the tourism app.
Around 60% of the accommodation units are using the app to register their guests, Lyngdoh said.
Meanwhile, the government also banned the use of private vehicles to ferry travellers into tourist destinations.
According to the minister, the government decision to revisit MRSSA and give it more teeth would check possible crimes like the recent one in Sohra that shook the nation.
He also said the swift breakthrough into the tourist murder case has also become a strong deterrent for criminal elements.
“The state police has already made a name for itself by cracking the criminal case of Sonam in record time which is seven days. That spectacular performance of the Meghalaya police itself has I am sure put a fear to visitors to not play around by travelling to Meghalaya. You can come here as tourists, we will welcome you but if you create any issues and indulge yourself in criminal activities, the state police is there to immediately jump upon you,” he said.
Lyngdoh also announced that the government will again introduce fresh fleet of prime vehicles by July.
“It will be approximately 50 new vehicles and we will follow the due process of inviting interested entrepreneurs to access this scheme,” he added.
Further, the minister also informed that the government has asked the Sohra Tourism Association to submit a list of areas, which they considered vulnerable – for installation of CCTVs.
“Once the list is furnish to us, we will immediately start acting,” he said while adding that these are destinations with maximum footfalls like Umiam Lake, Ward’s Lake, Sohra, Dawki and others.
On the alleged decline of tourist footfall following the Indore tourist murder, the minister attributed it to various other factors including traffic congestion in the city, flash flood and water logging at Jorabat.
“They are being resolved,” he said.
He mentioned that the issue of waterlogging at Khanapara and Jorabat even came up for discussion during the recent meeting between chief ministers of Meghalaya and Assam.
“There is a tendency for this sector to again recover and hopefully with our announcement of future events like the Cherry Blossom 2025, we expect there will be an upsurge of visitors again,” he said.
Meanwhile, the minister has maintained that the government will no longer file any defamation case since all those responsible for defaming the image of the state have apologised to the state and its people.
“I don’t think that is necessary now since the brother of Sonam had himself tendered an unqualified apology right on national media,” he said.
