State-HPC talks after House session: Dhar

SHILLONG:

The state government will take up the issue of relocation of residents of Harijan Colony from Them Iew Mawlong with the Harijan Panchayat Committee (HPC) after the ongoing Budget session of the 11th Meghalaya Legislative Assembly.

Deputy Chief Minister in-charge Urban Affairs Sh said on March 11 that the government would invite the HPC for discussions on the issue.

“We will invite them after the assembly’s session and try to resolve the issue,” Dhar said.
Dhar, however, also said that he would discuss the issue with the Deputy Chief Minister, Prestone Tynsong, before inviting the HPC for talks.

The High Court of Meghalaya had earlier told the state government that the matter should be resolved immediately after the election. “The State should make every endeavour, immediately after the election, to resolve the matter since it has been represented on behalf of the State on previous occasions that several parcels of land had been identified for the resettlement of the members of the first respondent body,” the division bench headed by Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee had said.

Elections to 59 out of the 60 assembly seats concluded on February 27.Meg

The bench said that the matter has been adjourned for a considerable period of time on the joint representation of the parties and that an amicable settlement will be arrived at.

In its previous order passed on October 21, last year, the court had asked the Harijan Panchayat Committee (HPC) to respond to the proposal of the state government for relocation of 342 families within four weeks.

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 families.

The state government had outrightly rejected the April 25, 2022, proposal of the HPC that 200 square metres of land be provided to each of the 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 eight-point 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.