Meghalaya: CM Conrad Sangma announces committee to preserve Garo heritage

CORRESPONDENT

SHILLONG: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Tuesday said the state government constituted a committee to look into aspects for preservation of Garo culture and heritage led by Cabinet Minister Marcuise N. Marak, which will meet this month. The formation of the committee assumes significance after the controversy surrounding the demolition of the cenotaph at Lower Babupara, Tura. According to the notification issued on April 3, the committee will be headed by Cabinet Minister Marcuise N. Marak.

“After my discussion with the different civil society members in Tura, I had shared with them that we will be forming a committee at the state level to discuss not just the Garo Labour Corps memorial or Cenotaph but also to broaden the overall discussion on different aspects of the Garo Labour Corps issues, whether it is the issues of more historic data information that is available in France or other places or the history behind it, documenting it, even documentation of other cultural aspects,” the Chief Minister said.

He emphasized that the idea was to widen the scope of engagement on the subject. “So with that idea and concept of broadening the entire thought process on this, the government has come out with a committee headed by Marcuise N. Marak, the cabinet minister in charge of PHE, and different members of society and civil society as members of this committee and, obviously, from the government side, to really go into the details of all this and how to move forward.”

Sangma further stated that in view of the committee’s formation, all ongoing activities related to the Cenotaph have been put on hold. “And in the process while this committee is going to work, we have realised that since this committee has been formed, it will be most appropriate to discuss the different aspects and concerns, and so in the interim, we have asked that all activities be stopped. This committee will be meeting, I am told, sometime around maybe the 14th–15th of April or something within this month very soon or maybe after Easter.”

Touching on the core of the controversy, the Chief Minister said, “All aspects of the Cenotaph in terms of the design will be discussed in that committee and how we should move forward, and as I said, what is more important, most important to us, is that this Garo Labour Corps Memorial was in a way forgotten and there were no efforts to really improve on it. So it was with that idea that this whole concept had come up.”

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