ABHA ANINDITA
SHILLONG:
Geet Kaur, an 85-year-old grandmother, sat chatting with a neighbour in front of a shuttered shop by the lane at Them Metor, also known as Harijan Colony, soaking in the warmth of a mellow winter afternoon sun. She insisted on being addressed as dadi (grandmother), and enquired if this correspondent was a politician. With the response in the negative, she turned candid.
“We have been residents for about 200 years now. Why are they wanting us to leave? What have we done to be treated like this? We make our own money and eat our own food,” a very emotional Kaur said.
“We do not want a lot, but we deserve the basic things, right? Some days before, pipes were repaired after we complained, garbage had been stuck in it, but again after elections we will be back to square one,” she said.
Located in the heart of Shillong, the locality is different in terms of the population who were brought in from Punjab by the British before 1857 for manual scavenging.
The narrow lane houses 342 Punjabi families. It has been the bone of contention for some time now, as demands for relocating them gained momentum owing to traffic congestion in the area, but the discussions have reached no conclusion yet.
Gurjit Singh, secretary Harijan Panchayat Committee, in a conversation with The Meghalayan said, “We have been here for nearly 200 years now, but they do not want us to stay here. The negotiations opened after the 2018 law and order problem, but it was since much before that we used to keep hearing that we would be relocated.”
Personnel of the CRPF standing guard are a reminder of the clash nearly five years ago.
However, the representatives of the colony have not been able to come to a conclusion ever after many rounds of discussion.
Singh added, “See, we are very clear on what we want. We have told them that we want 200 sq. metre area per family and preferably in the European Ward. That would settle the matter once and for all, and I do not think that we are asking for something that is beyond the government’s capacity.”
Relocation has been one of the recurring issues that has been haunting the colony, but that is definitely not the only one. The need for a water reservoir has been pointed out time and again but all that has fallen on deaf ears.
Kuldeep Singh, a retired army personnel, mentioned, “We have time and again brought to the notice of our local representative to help us make a water reservoir where we can store water. The locality mainly houses lower middle class people, how can they afford to buy water for daily use?”
Similarly, Gurjit Singh also mentioned how the candidates come to ask for votes and make promises but never get any work done. “It is like we are othered, they come here and tell us that they will make the situation better but once they are out they tell people that they will relocate us.”
He added, “No MLA funds are ever used for our benefit, we are just mere political baits for them. They want votes from us, then they want to use us as pawns outside to get votes from the local community.”
Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong had clarified that the locality did not house illegal settlers and that the government was trying its best to negotiate and come up with a solution. In response to this, the MLA of North Shillong, Adelbert Nongrum, had refuted the government claims.
Singh said, “The 2008 survey has identified the 342 families and papers show that they have been residents here. We were not only given this land, but we also have the ‘patta’ (legal document) given to us by the Syiem of Mylliem.”
The residents, however, seem to have gotten used to this cycle of blame game and being an agenda for politics of sorts.
“Governments will come, governments will go, they will say one thing or other, but only time will tell what is in store for us,” Singh added.