Meghalaya Govt to introduce Bill to protect state’s fragile ecosystem

Meghalaya Government will soon come up with a Bill to protect the fragile ecosystem of the state, said State Tourism Minister Paul Lyngdoh.

Speaking to media at his office on Tuesday, Minister Paul Lyngdoh said, “We (State Government) are soon coming up with a Bill to protect the fragile ecosystem of Meghalaya and to do that the state must ensure to promote high-end tourism or high value tourism.”

He stated that the State Government puts more emphasis on high-value tourism than on the number of visitors, preferring to upscale the quality of travellers rather than their numbers.

“The spending power of an average tourist in Meghalaya is roughly around Rs. 2,700 per day. We would like to scale it up to at least Rs 5,000 a day,” the Minister said.

Minister Lyngdoh said that the primary focus of the Bill is on protecting the fragile areas where there are living root bridges, monoliths, and caves. These areas are fragile and prone to damage if the footfall is not controlled and if visitors are irresponsible. “Therefore, we have come up with this idea. We are at the stage of conceiving the Bill. Once the Bill is ready, it will be introduced in the next state Assembly session.”

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