EXCLUSIVE
Deputy Chief Minister in charge of Home (Police) Prestone Tynsong on Friday asked Pine Mount School to submit a formal representation to the Meghalaya government regarding the allotment of a portion of the existing Phan Nonglait Park, popularly known as Lady Hydari Park.
“The so-called Lady Hydari Park land which is adjacent to your campus—recently we have shifted the zoo to Ri Bhoi District—I was surprised to hear that the petition is made to the Government if it can be extended, if not fully, maybe partly of the Lady Hydari Park,” said Tynsong.
Encouraging the school to take the next step, he added, “So my suggestion to all of you is please meet me maybe a few weeks from today, meet me with your representation, with your paperwork, then I will take it up with the Government. We wanted to beautify this campus more.”
The park, a green sanctuary in the heart of Shillong, was originally developed under the vision of Swedish-born Sigrid Westling, widely known as Lady Hydari, wife of MS Akbar Hydari, who served as Governor of the undivided Assam state in 1947–1948. Pine Mount School, which shares a boundary with the park, maintains that the institution’s original land once extended into what is now part of the park.