By Ferdinand Rani | SHILLONG:
For a daily commuter through the Guwahati–Shillong road, one cannot avoid watching tourists stopping for a quick bite and some photos at Mawïongrim Shillong Viewpoint. Over two decades the picturesque landscape of the location has become a temptation for every commuter to stop and enjoy the beauty of Umïam lake. As a young boy who grew up in this part of town, the hotspot brings back memories, known amongst locals as one of the best routes to the lake for fishing. However, to the passers-by, it is a perfect tourist stop located by the roadside along the hill that touches the lake below, writes Ferdinand Rani about the rise and decline of Mawïongrim.
Some two decades ago, there were only trees and a view of the lake at Mawïongrim which made local residents nickname it “Viewpoint”. This region falls under Block-4 of Mawïongrim, Mawlai. It was not until 2008 that residents saw the potential of the place that they started to establish assembled shops, selling tea and snacks for people stopping by. Since then, the place had become a popular attraction not only for the people of Shillong but for tourists. Come 2020, the makeshift Mawïongrim market came to a standstill. Even with the city of Shillong fully reopening in a post-pandemic frenzy, Mawïongrim Viewpoint is still deserted, with not one vendor insight. What is left are damaged sheds, non-functioning toilets, graffiti and unused tourism infrastructure.
In December 2020, the vendors agitated against the village authority who had stopped them from reopening their shops. Yet, till date, retail outlets are more or less forbidden from operating. The headman of Mawlai Mawïongrim, Sorbar Lyngdoh Nongpyiur, says that from 2008 till 2012, local residents with clearance from the village authority had constructed temporary sheds. “We received a letter that year from the Deputy Commissioner asking us to evacuate the vendors from the area so that the tourism department could better it. The vendors agreed; however, at some point, another group of vendors came through and constructed temporary sheds again. We could not do anything to them until 2020 when the lockdown came”.
Nongpyiur says the vendors at the time were not the ones the village authorities knew and had no clearance to operate retail shops – either from the landowners or the dorbar. The lockdown provided the locality with an opportunity to stop vendors and allow the tourism department to begin its work. “We don’t get any profit from the area as yet, since we can’t even tax the vendors for maintenance. They came here without our knowledge, and it even reached a point of misunderstanding while trying to do so”.
Besides tourists, the Mawïongrim viewpoint also attracts a medley of lovers and friends, but also drug dealers and other criminals, making the unlit highway unsafe past sundown. “We found the illegal sale of intoxicants in one of these shops which we immediately shut down. We had also worked with the police in nabbing drug peddlers from the area; since we shut down the place entirely, the number of such activities has decreased”.
At present, the village authority employs part-time caretakers for maintenance at Viewpoint – most of it is the result of unruly citizens who use the spot to unload rubbish. “We pay Rs 300 per day for our caretakers, yet there are still people who come and drop their rubbish here late in the evening every day”.
On its part, the tourism department had constructed infrastructure along the Viewpoint route; this included modern public toilets as well, but they remain closed since the lockdown. Ultimately, the building was handed over to the village authority for maintenance, but unknown miscreants damaged these, making them unusable.
The district administration had also erected a COVID-19 checkpoint in consultation with the village authority at this very place during the 2020 lockdown; Nongpyiur says much of the infrastructure was affected by this as well, especially the toilets.
“So far, we have only faced losses from Viewpoint. We hope that, after the construction, there will be better coordination between the shopkeepers, the landowners and the village authority. That way we will be able to maintain it systematically”. Since the tourism department handed construction to the village authority, the latter are intending to implement an allotment system in cooperation with landowners.
Meanwhile, D. Kurbah, a mother of four from Mawlai Mawdatbaki, says the Viewpoint market was where she had earned her livelihood for some four-to-five years until the village authorities intervened. “At first, our aunt went there, and it turned out to be a good place to earn. Thinking that it is just by the roadside, we went and constructed our shed without getting any permission from anyone. I think where I sit belongs to the locality; that is what people say”. Seven more of Kurbah’s relatives earned from this very place; she admits that village authorities did approach them two-or-three times with information about the evacuation, but nothing happened, so they continued until the lockdown. Kurbah, who sold snacks and seasonal fruits here, can only stay at home but hopes the market will be revived soon. “We tried to approach the headman to allow us to just carry a small basket and sell things, if not a shed. But we were not allowed. They said that they want to construct better infrastructure there. I hope I will get a space too, even if I have to pay rent for it”.
Nongpyiur says the village authorities plan to allow 15 shops and local residents will be prioritised. He says that only after the initial plan is completed can other arrangements be made to accommodate more visitors and vendors.
“As per the work order of the contractor, the tourism department will make the shops on spots the landowners have given to the department for construction, which should have started on 3 February”. The construction, however, is slated to take at least 12 months to complete.
The potential of Viewpoint was realised by the village over a decade ago, and plans to develop it have often faltered. At one time, the government proposed a ropeway across the lake, but the plan failed as landowners in the locality had other plans to develop their properties. Pdengshnong and the tea garden of Block 1, both in Mawïongrim, are now expected to join Viewpoint such development works in service of tourism.
Amit Pandey, a tourist from Gorakhpur, who was at Viewpoint at the time of reporting says, “This is my first time travelling to Shillong and it is basically a very good place for tourism. What we are missing right now are merchandising items here, which I would love to have”.
The tourism sector in Meghalaya has been on a high roll, but sites remain underdeveloped or ill-maintained, and environmentalists have been quietly side-lined in the quest to make the state a home for tourists first. Cooperation amongst the stakeholders is the need of the hour, it is said. Can a long-term, sustainable vision for the state accommodate both tourists and the environment, without hurting women like Kurbah, who rely on an uninterrupted source of income and a safe place to do business?