Shirui Kashong's ramshackle stairway a worry for visitors
Source: Hueiyen News Service / R Lester Makang
Ukhrul, April 22 2015 :
Shirui Kashong Peak, the natural habitat of the famed Shirui Lily, is reached by a flight of high and swirling stairs.
In the year 2003, a local clan's body known as Mungleng Vathei Hill Development Society (MVHDS) constructed the concrete stairs on the naturally slippery foot track up the steep mountain side to ease trekking for visitors.
A visit to the peak as always has remained adventurous but since then trekking up the steep mountain sides had been eased to a great extent.
With the construction of the much needed stairs with hand grip bar, a growing number of visitors from across the State and other places had been flocking to the peak till last year during the blooming season of Shirui Lily.
This time round, if one happens to visit the majestic Kashong peak, one will be flabbergasted to find the concrete stairs crumbling to bits and the hand grip bar vanished without a trace.
"It was not long ago I noticed the stairs in pretty good shape with the hand grip bars intact," exclaimed Dr Felix of NABARD, Ukhrul who recently visited the peak.
While it does not appear that over ten years time alone has not worn away the infrastructure, a local youth leader said, "Reckless handling by some unruly outsiders or visitors has resulted in dilapidation of the stairs." He observed that at times it was hard for the local guides to keep a tab on movements and activities of visitors.
Some sections of the stairway have developed severe cracks and crumbled so bad that there have been instances of the old concrete work breaking off on stepping upon by visitors.
It is also learnt that the tracks are normally muddy and slippery during the bloom season from the middle of May till first week of June which usually coincides with the onset of rainy season.
Shirui Village Secretary Mungleng said that the stairs have remained unrepaired since its construction by MVHDS in 2003 which is also a contributory factor in the dilapidated condition of the infrastructure.
He further said that the timber Rest Camp at the peak is now rendered beyond repair as it has never been fixed after it was constructed by TKS during the times of former president Paul Muinao in the late 1980s."We have appraised the Government of the need to construct a new rest camp for the visitors several times but nothing has come forth," he rued.