Meghalaya adopts ‘Save Shillong Rivers’ to mark World Environment Day

SHILLONG: A programme to celebrate World Environment Day was held at the State Convention Centre here on Tuesday with Meghalaya adopting the theme — “Save Shillong’s Rivers” — for the event in recognition of a pertinent local problem.
Underscoring that citizens should take ownership of protecting the environment by partnering with the government, chief minister Conrad K Sangma substantiated his point by underlining the conservation success of community water committees.
Further, he called on each person to feel a sense of ownership for tree protection through the slogan: “One citizen, one tree”.
Conrad announced that under the Chief Minister’s Solar Mission, to be launched on June 7, each household will be given the provision to install solar units.
“This will help address the power problem in the state. The solar units will also provide the facility for households to send unused power to the main grid,” the CM said.
Chief secretary Donald P Wahlang pointed out the irony of Meghalaya having the cleanest river in the world, while Shillong had two of the 45 most dirtiest rivers in the world in Umkhrah and Umshyrpi.
He shared how Meghalaya had put in place a plan to rejuvenate Shillong’s rivers.