SHILLONG:
Minister in-charge Urban Affairs Sniawbhalang Dhar, on December 5, said a final discussion will be held once the Harijan Panchayat Committee (HPC) is done studying the blueprint for relocating 342 families of Sweepers’ Colony from Them Iew Mawlong.
“We have already given the blueprint to them. Let them study and come back to us and final discussion will be done,” Dhar told reporters.
He further informed that the High Court had also fixed the time for the HPC to respond to the government’s proposal.
When asked if relocation of the Sweepers’ Colony will happen before the election, the minister however said, “Based on the situation, because we are not doing this for election purposes. Please remember that this is a permanent solution so the people of the state don’t get mixed. We cannot play politics with the lives of the people. This is not an election (issue).”
On October 21, the Meghalaya High Court had asked the HPC to respond to the proposal of the state government within four weeks’ time.
While hearing the matter, the Division Bench had said the state has informed that a proposal, along with the blueprint for the reallocation, has been forwarded to the HPC under cover of a letter dated September 30.
“Since the respondent committee says that it is assessing the proposal, the respondents are requested to respond to the proposal within the next four weeks. Let the matter appear two months hence,” the bench had said.
The next hearing is scheduled to be held on February 16, 2023.
On September 29, the state government presented the blueprint to the HPC during a meeting, which indicated its decision to construct multi-storey flats at the existing official quarters of the Shillong Municipal Board (SMB) for relocation of the 342 families.
The state government had outrightly rejected the April 25-proposal of the HPC that 200 square meters of land be provided to each of the 342 families within the European ward besides bearing the cost of construction of their homes.
After the meeting, HPC secretary Gurjit Singh had expressed concern that the government had rejected its 8-points resolution.
“The government has instead come up with its own blueprint. Therefore, we will first study the blueprint, we will go back to the people of our community to discuss and take a collective decision then we will come back to the government,” he had said.