Our Correspondent
Tura:
Tura town is getting decked up to accord a warm welcome to President Droupadi Murmu on her maiden visit on January 15 to inaugurate the 5th Meghalaya Games and citizens of Garo Hills are ecstatic with the news that the head of the country will be spending a night in the town, at the new Raj Bhawan complex, making this a historic visit.
The preparations are on a scale never witnessed before with hosts- the West Garo Hills District administration – burning the midnight oil to put final touches to this memorable sporting extravaganza and the President’s visit.
President Murmu will open the games at the P.A. Sangma Stadium in Tura, where the games torch coming all the way from Shillong will have its flames burning bright in the stadium for the five-day event.
In anticipation of the President of India’s visit, public places are being spruced up with fresh coats of paint, bamboo barricades erected along roadsides, and even the localities of Tura have gone through a “cleansing” process, with cleaning drives to clear out garbage and colourful illumination lighting up the place at night. Clearly, the festive season has just been given an extended lease this January.
History is being made in Tura with the President’s visit because never before has any head of state spent a night here.
President Murmu will take residence for the night, on January 15, at the newly built Raj Bhavan, located at Danakgre, Tura.
The first ever visit by a head of state to Garo Hills was way back in October 2008 when the first woman President of India, Pratibha Devi Singh Patel, invited by Late P A Sangma, inaugurated the first airport at Baljek Jengjal, 30 kms from Tura, putting Garo Hills on the air map of the country as the first commercial ATR plane landed and took off from there.
The Raj Bhawan in Tura is being inaugurated by the Governor of Meghalaya Phagu Chauhan in presence of Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Friday.
The new Raj Bhavan at Tura has been draped in grandeur as last minute touches are given before the inauguration ceremony.
The opening of the Raj Bhawan or Governor House in Tura is going to fulfill a long standing demand of the people of Garo Hills as successive governments have faced multiple agitations by student and civil society groups seeking its establishment.