RI BHOI:
It’s been a week, but villagers of Chinchona, a sub-village in Pahamsyiem, Ri Bhoi district have been unable to find one of its residents who had gone fishing in the Nongkhyllem Wildlife Sanctuary.
Identified as Antis Lyngdoh, 32, Antis, along with his two co-workers had gone fishing on April 30 but hasn’t returned till date. According to villagers, Antis, and his co-workers were carpenters and were working on projects at the Eklavya Model Residential School (EMRS).
When his co-workers couldn’t find him in the forest, they returned and informed Antis’ family. Soon after, his family members, along with village headman Jedwin Lyngdoh, dorbar shnong Pahamsyiem, and some villagers formed a search party and went looking for Antis in the forest. However, till date, despite various search attempts, he hasn’t been found.
Meanwhile, the incident has become a topic of “wild” speculations among the villagers, with some claiming it happened because the forest is actually a sacred grove. Elders in the village said that, this is not the first such case, as people often go missing in the sanctuary. They informed that earlier, sacred rituals used to be performed in the forest and usually, people from outside are the ones who get lost in the area never to be found again.
Last year, the sanctuary was found to be the best protected area (PA) in the Northeast, according to a management effectiveness evaluation (MEE) report of national parks and wildlife sanctuaries. With the state registering 79.17 per cent, the report had ranked Meghalaya “very good”.