SHILLONG:
Deputy Chief Minister in-charge Urban Affairs Sniawbhalang Dhar, on April 19, informed that a meeting to discuss the relocation of the 342 families of Harijan Colony from Them Iew Mawlong will be held next week.
The Harijan Panchayat Committee (HPC) was earlier given till April 10 to reply to the government’s proposal in this regard.
“As of now, there is no reply from them (HPC). Therefore, next week we will call a meeting (of the government) to discuss the next course of action on the matter,” Dhar told reporters.
Stating that the government is trying to resolve the issue at the earliest, the he said, “The court has told us if we can solve this issue within this month and so we will try to do that.”
When asked, Dhar said, “We are yet to fix the date for the meeting as when I am in station deputy chief minister in-charge Home Prestone Tynsong is not there and when he is here I am not in station. So I will be waiting for him and likely by next week we will have a meeting to discuss this issue.”
On March 16, the state government had set a deadline to the HPC for submitting its reply by April 10, with regard to the proposal for relocation of the Harijan Colony from Them Iew Mawlong to the existing land of the Shillong Municipal Board (SMB).
The government had also turned down the request of the HPC to give another three months’ time to respond to the proposal.
The decision was also taken following an order of the Meghalaya High Court on February 16, asking the state government to immediately resolve the issue after the Assembly elections.
On September 29, last year the state government had 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, 2022-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.