Shillong: The State Congress wants the proposed Shillong Peak ropeway project shut down immediately. Party secretary Manuel Badwar slammed the government on Friday for failing to prove the project is safe for the environment or the local community. Officials have not cleared up lingering doubts about forest impact, water supplies, or public input. The project is currently priced at Rs 108 crore.
Badwar took aim at the 2022 public consultation. Only 27 people showed up, he claimed. Five of those were government workers, leaving almost no room for actual residents from Laban or nearby neighborhoods to speak. During that meeting, 80 per cent of people slammed the project for how it would ruin local water quality. Badwar says this tiny sample size is a total failure.
The physical footprint remains a point of contention. The build calls for a lower terminal covering 4,000 square metres and an upper terminal spanning 2,400 square metres. A 20-metre wide, one-kilometre long corridor slices through the area. When counting towers and stations, the total land use hits 26,000 square metres, plus another 19,100 square metres for the corridor. Officials have yet to offer a clear map of the impact.
Water sources remain a massive flashpoint. Research shows at least three streams exist in the project zone. Government reports labeled these stream crossings as not applicable. Badwar wants the Water Resources Department, Soil Conservation Department, Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board, and geological experts to run full hydrological mapping before anything moves forward. He also flagged the selection of a monocable gondola system over safer bicable or tricable versions due to seismic risks.
"The project should be kept in abeyance until these issues are addressed; if satisfactory answers are not provided, it should be scrapped," Badwar said. He insists his party is not against growth, but demands total transparency and a real look at the social and environmental price tag.
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