Iconic Ward’s Lake to be retransferred back to tourism department
The Iconic Ward’s Lake is all set to be retransferred back to the Tourism department even as Rs 18 crore was sanctioned to create a facility for leisure and entertainment for visitors to Shillong.
Informing this on Thursday, Tourism Minister Paul Lyngdoh said, “We have now gone ahead with re-transferring the iconic Ward’s Lake, which is currently with the Forest and Environment department to the Tourism department. The Ward’s Lake as you know, even the bridge, which is iconic and symbolic of Meghalaya, has always been with the Tourism department but because of certain factors, it was under the custody and care of the forest department.”
“But now we have decided in a meeting chaired by the chief minister that it be retransferred to the Tourism department. As we speak, we have already allocated a sum of Rs 18 crore for the immediate development of the lake including facilities like cafes, sound & light shows etc and these facilities,” he added.
He also announced that the timing for closure of Ward’s Lake will be extended from 5 pm to 10 pm.
“Once we are in formal possession of the lake, we will ensure first that the timings will change, the closure will not be 5 pm, it will 10 pm and it will also create a facility for leisure and entertainment for visitors to Shillong, who are complaining of not having any activities during evening hours,” Lyngdoh said adding “It will also help our government employees; you know offices closed at 5pm and the lake also shuts at 5pm. So at least they should have sometime to walk around and do some physical exercise.”
Asked, Lyngdoh said a major attraction would be the sound & light show as this will attract people.
“We will have events, we will have something to show, which most advanced cities have been able to manage. We will upscale the entertainment value of the lake.”
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