Shillong, Nov 2: Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Monday ( Nov 2) defended the ropeway project by stating that it will provide employment.
Speaking to reporters, he said the protest against the Shillong Ropeway project is unfortunate as all issues raised have been clarified.
“It is really unfortunate. There were concerns raised by certain organizations and individuals and the department has clarified on almost all fronts. My concern right now is to find out what are the concerns and 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.
He said genuine concerns must be backed by reasoning.
“You will have to back your concerns with real reasoning and therefore if there are issues, and if they are genuine, we will discuss it, we have no problem in that,” he said.
Sangma said the project has been vetted by expert agencies for over two years.
“We have been spending almost two and a half years on this project and all agencies involved in finding out all technical issues are very expert kind of agencies, and therefore 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. So there is no reason why there should be any issue,” he said.
“When concerns were raised, our Commissioner & Secretary Industries and Tourism had clarified, also from MTDC our MD had clarified on all points and they also accepted that yes we saw the clarification and the clarifications are quite clear. So I don’t see why it should be stopped now and since concerns have been addressed, we should move forward,” he added.
Stressing on job creation, the Chief Minister said, “We all talk about job creation and complain that there are not enough jobs for our youth. Why are we doing this project? 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 direct and indirect employment.”
“Therefore if you are opposing this, you are affecting the livelihood and employment opportunities of our youth. We have to remember that. 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.
“But we are losing out on employment opportunities, which is one of the major aspects and reasons why we are pushing this project. So this will impact our youth and we must realize that the youth is important to us. In a way those opposing this project are opposing livelihood opportunities that our youths can get because of this project. We have to keep all of these factors in mind while we move forward,” Sangma 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 but for whatever reason, they decided not to. And then suddenly when the project has already been awarded, this issue is raised, so 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.”
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.
