Meghalaya Government Refuses to Cancel ₹151-Crore Shillong Peak Ropeway Project Amid Protest

Shillong: The Meghalaya Government has firmly rejected demands to scrap the controversial ₹151-crore Shillong Peak Ropeway Project. Re-inducted Tourism Minister Paul Lyngdoh, on Thursday, November 5, declared that the 30-year bilateral agreement is legally binding and "signed and sealed for good," dismissing escalating public agitations as coming "four years too late."

The statement follows intense confrontation after the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) sealed the lower terminal site at Madan Laban on October 27 over alleged trading license violations.

While authorities forcibly unsealed the site on November 4, the Joint Action Committee (JAC) issued a strict ultimatum: scrap the project or face severe sit-in protests. JAC General Secretary Dr. Linda Marbaniang voiced the concerns of local mothers, warning that the tourism corridor would deplete vital water bodies and catchment zones.

However, the government is actively pushing back against the ecological claims. Following a public consultation, Meghalaya Ropeway Development Authority (MRDA) CEO CVD Diengdoh revealed a Public Health Engineering (PHE) report showing that the project’s six proposed towers will occupy just 0.2% of the local catchment area, keeping natural spring sources entirely untouched.

Minister Lyngdoh further clarified that the ropeway alignment maintains a respectful distance of 3.15 kilometers from the sacred peak of Lei Shyllong. He noted that all statutory paper trails—including central environmental clearances and defense department permissions—were secured back in 2022 and 2023.

Warning that a sudden rollback would decimate Meghalaya's credibility as a safe investment corridor, Lyngdoh stated, "If we vitiate the environment where the Government of India or private parties feel Meghalaya is unsafe, it will impact the state for the next 40 years or even more."

As an olive branch, Lyngdoh offered to sponsor a tour for the protesting stakeholders to Sikkim and Shimla to observe how eco-friendly passenger ropeways operate successfully in sensitive hill stations

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