Department of Information and Public Relations

Press Release No. 1001/17

CM LAYS BASE FOR ECO-TOURISM RESORT AT NENGMANDALGRE

Chief Minister Dr. Mukul Sangma laid the foundation stone for construction of Eco-Tourism Camp at the scenic village of Nengmandalgre on the southern bank of Simsang River near Williamnagar in the presence of local MLA & Minister for School Education & Literacy Deborah C.Marak on Friday evening. He also inaugurated the newly constructed building of Kids’ Flower LP School at Lower Nengmandalgre, which was constructed under Chief Minister’s Special Rural Development Fund. In his address the Chief Minister said that when Nengmandalgre was included for the eco-tourism project many were sceptic as nobody thought it would be possible to get tourists visit the place due to obvious reasons – militancy. However, there is a need for optimism even in the face of negativity and expressed hope that the eco-camp would be like a seed of prosperity and opportunity for future generations of the region.

He also informed that out of 12 such eco-resorts sanctioned under tourism department as many as nine have been earmarked for East Garo Hills alone. Stating that every part of the state has its own exclusive natural beauty, the Chief Minister stressed the need to build on this exclusivity and market them aggressively to attract tourists and create opportunities of livelihood for the local people in their own backyard

Inaugurating the school building, the Chief Minister said that there is a lot of demand for private schools and also stressed the need to have a healthy competition among government and private schools in a healthy environment. He called for opening of more private schools and informed that there is government assistance upto certain amount to such non- government schools. Minister for School Education & Literacy, Deborah Marak in her brief address asserted that no other sector can uplift the economic condition of the people better than tourism which is the fastest growing industry in the world. As such she urged upon the people of Nengmandalgre to preserve the rich flora and fauna and water bodies of their village for promoting eco-tourism in the region. Later, the Chief Minister along with other dignitaries distributed solar lamps to school students as part of the government’s initiative to promote non-conventional energy under Meghalaya New & Renewable Energy Development Agency. Earlier, he also visited the fish sanctuary in Chibok river, located in the village, which is renowned for abundance of mahseer.

Press Release No. 999/17

CM LAYS BASE FOR SCIENCE BLOCK OF LOYOLA COLLEGE AT WILLIAMNAGAR

Meghalaya Chief Minister Dr. Mukul Sangma, while admitting that successive governments have not been able to provide access to quality education as it had to focus on fulfilling the mandate of providing free and compulsory education, however, said that there is a sense of accomplishment as the present government has been responding to the educational needs in the State and underscored the need to build partnerships with likeminded educational institutions to provide quality education to usher an era of positive development of the youths.

The Chief Minister laid the foundation stone for construction of Science Block of Loyola College, Williamnagar in East Garo Hills in the presence of School Education & Literacy Minister Deborah C. Marak, Parliamentary Secretary, Sengnam Marak, Regional Superior of the Jesuits of North East, Fr. Arul, Principal, Loyola College, Fr. Sunny, district officials and the faculty, staff, students and parents of the college on Saturday. The Chief Minister opined that students coming from different backgrounds have different capacities of absorption which is one of the challenges in education and stressed the need to give special focus on weaker students. Stating that every centre of learning has to take the challenge of equipping our children to prepare them to be competent of becoming global citizens, he applauded the college for giving the touch of nurturing and transforming the students and assured government support to see that it reaches to the most difficult areas of the state.

The Chief Minister was impressed by the brilliant performance of the students of the college who presented a Broadway musical “Annie” and said that the play put up by them “infused hope despite all the negativities of the past”. He lamented that such physical and mental conditioning of the students was missing in most of the institutions and announced that the government would encourage organizations and individuals, who would like to promote drama in the state of Meghalaya. “Drama as a weapon of transformation can instill good qualities and virtues”, he said adding that the government has chalked out a plan to ensure that the surrendered rebels were engaged in art and drama, so that they can overcome the rebellious nature in them. The Chief Minister also asked the educational institutions to infuse a spirit of entrepreneurship and inform them about the abundance of space available for their career where there is less competition, adding that when there is competition for limited space of opportunity there is bound to be frustration among the youth. He also informed that a programme for entrepreneurship building would be launched in the state very soon where educational institutions would be partners and appealed to the principal, teachers, students and parents to participate in the programme to understand the multiple career opportunities available. He also expressed a deep a deep sense of appreciation to the governing body of the college for ensuring the presence of this institution in this part of the state about five years ago when the perception of this region was negative for the obvious reason of militancy.

Loyola College is set to begin its Science stream in the month of June 2018 as part of its commitment to the people of the State, according to its Principal, Fr. Sunny.