SHILLONG:
The state government, on September 8, handed over the letter of allotment for 10 acres of land in the New Shillong Township for the CRPF to set up a permanent base.
The chief minister, in a video statement released to the media after the meeting held in the secretariat with the CRPF, said that the latter has for many years been requesting the state government for a plot of land.
He added that since a permanent location was still to be allotted, the different battalions and companies of the CRPF have been kept in different locations across the state on a temporary basis– an arrangement which was extended for a very long time.
“Today, we allotted 10 acres of land in the New Shillong township area next to IIM for the CRPF to have a permanent camp in Meghalaya which will further facilitate the process of shifting the temporary camps and taking the personnel from these to the permanent land. We also discussed regarding the shifting of the camps in certain locations where there had been a lot of demand from the public also, like in Mawlai’, the chief minister said.
The chief minister said that the shifting of the CRPF camps to the permanent site will commence once the approval from the Ministry of Home Affairs is received.
The meeting also discussed the way forward for the most suitable utilisation of the land once the temporary camps are vacated by the CRPF. The chief minister said that the government is contemplating setting up skill and entrepreneurship training facilities or an arts and culture centre in the CRPF camp in Mawlai once it is vacated.
“We had a very productive meeting and we are hopeful that very soon the approval from MHA will come for taking-over of the land by the CRPF which has been allotted by us today”, he said.