Guwahati: Meghalaya chief minister Conrad Sangma on Tuesday expressed eagerness to work with Assam to work on the “protection of elephants”, which, in turn, could also bolster the tourism economy of the two neighbouring states.
“We as a state want to work with the government of Assam to protect the elephants”, Sangma was quoted as saying in a government release. “We have one of the largest populations of elephants in the entire Asian continent and hence we can have an elephant corridor permanently marked, which could also serve as a tourism destination where people can come and experience and see the elephants”, he said.
As both Assam and Meghalaya have a large number of elephants, man-elephant conflicts are also quite common as forest areas are in small patches and the elephants often have to cross farmland and human habitation.
Sangma’s comments came during the inauguration of the 11th edition of the International Tourism Mart (ITM) which got underway on Wednesday. The three-day event is being held at the Lariti International Centre for Performing Arts and Culture.
Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, who inaugurated the mart, observed that tourism has been one of the main pillars of economic policies for the state government.
Sangma lauded the Centre for its “support” to the Northeast, saying, “There is a very strong and special focus to ensure that the NE States moves together with the rest of the country and ensure that economic development reached [the] region.”
At the same time, he underlined the need to ensure that “we take care of the environment and the ecology also.” Last week, Sangma at a press conference Sangma said that Meghalaya is developing a tourism model that “does not pit the economy against ecology.”
28 international delegations from 18 countries are taking part in this year’s ITM. Fifty buyers from different parts of the country, including tourism professionals, media opinion makers, tour operators, and hospitality industry professionals are a part of the 3-day event.
Yesso Naik, Union MoS for Tourism, who jointly inaugurated the mart with Sangm, said that the ITM will facilitate interaction between government agencies and stakeholders. “After a long gap, international tour operators and bloggers are participating in this current edition. The Ministry is making efforts to make this event carbon neutral”, said the Minister
“Today, we are celebrating the 11th International Tourism Mart to ensure that development takes place in all the eight States of NE in the desired manner”, Naik said, before underlining that “only when development improves, tourism will improve.”
The ITM is an annual event held in one of the North Eastern States on a rotation basis, with an objective to provide a bigger platform to the North Eastern stakeholders "to interact with their counterparts from both within the country and overseas markets", said a government release.
The International Mart is also going to be a unique event in the sense that there will be no use of single-use plastics in line with the central government’s emphasis on pro-environment policies.
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