Meghalaya chief minister Conrad K Sangma on Thursday held a meeting with officials of different departments and civil organizations and chalked out ways and measures to ensure cleanliness in and around Shillong city as well as ways to clean the dirty Umïam Lake.
The chief minister while seeking suggestions from various departments like district administration, Forest, Shillong Municipal Board, Urban Affairs said that the involvement of the local bodies, institutions and the district council is important to meet the objective of keeping Shillong clean.
“While there is a need of behavioural change, and active public participation, the local bodies and institutions can play a major role in the enforcement of laws, monitoring and spreading the message of cleanliness and waste management,” he said.
He also said that the aim of having a clean Shillong would be met more aggressively after the approval of the action plan by the Central Pollution Board.
The chief minister also discussed with officials ways to clean the dirty Umïam Lake.
“The recent picture of Umiam Lake spread through social media is a matter of grave environmental concern and an eye sore,” the chief minister said.
He said that short term and long term measures have to be found out to clean the Umïam Lake.
He also suggested that a committee be formed comprising members from the Forest, District Administration, MeECL, Shillong Municipal Board, District Council and Water Resources to work out the mechanisms to clean the Umïam Lake.
“While the government will definitely look into long term measures to clean the Umïam Lake, it is urgently required to stop further waste being dumped into the lake,” he said.
Meanwhile, officials have clarified that the picture was an old picture but nevertheless it is a wake up call and measures have to be installed to clean the lake and prevent it from getting polluted further.