Tura, June 27: The villagers of pristine, clean and green Aminda Rangsa village in Meghalaya's West Garo Hills are trying to create an identity for themselves with an ambitious plan to set up a Garo heritage museum and an artist's unique initiative.

Located nearly 25km from Tura, far from mundane city life, the village is a perfect getaway, with beautiful landscapes, rugged terrains and a dense forest.

A small village with 39 households, it has a population of roughly 200 people, including children.

In 2011, the village bagged the Nirmal Gram Puraskar.

The award motivated the villagers and they decided to come together to emulate Mawlynong village of East Khasi Hills, which has the distinction of being Asia's cleanest village. Handmade dustbins are kept in different locations of the village, where the community has come together to make the village clean.

"In 2011, our village bagged the Nirmal Gram Puraskar. We have not received any support from the government to fructify our ideas but we are committed. We have conceived an idea to construct a heritage museum to attract visitors to our village," said member of the village development committee, Wanson Marak.

"In 2010, the nokma (village chief), president and secretary of the village development committee motivated us to ensure cleanliness and since then we have been making an effort to keep our village clean," said an elderly villager, Pilmith R. Marak.

The unique initiative to promote the village as a tourism destination is slowly attracting visitors. In addition, artist Handum Marak's creativity has given shape to a park at Aminda Rangsa.

Constructed with generous donations from different agencies and the villagers, Handum has etched his creativity on uprooted trees at the park.

"I wanted to contribute to my village through my creative expression, so I decided to do wood carving in the park. I feel that people will be attracted to our village, which will help us in different ways," said Handum.

The 41-year-old artist earns his living by giving shape to his expression on wood and stones. Meghalaya chief minister Mukul Sangma has also engaged him to build a traditional Garo house at Ballonggre village, near Tura, which will have several woodcarvings.

Handum said he wished for Aminda Rangsa to become a model community tourism destination.

Last year, the village also bagged an award for its conservation efforts in the Integrated Basin Development and Livelihood Promotion Programme, a flagship programme of the state government.