HPC to take the final call, says Mukul
By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The State Government, it seems, is non committal on a deliberation on the reservations expressed by certain organisations over the construction of the Assembly Secretariat at Tara Ghar site.
“This issue would be thoroughly deliberated by the High Power Committee (HPC) in its meeting to be held in the coming days,” a non-challant Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma told reporters here on Friday.
Commenting on the letter written to him by Union Minister for Forest and Environment Jairam Ramesh asking him to leave Tara Ghar alone and to select an alternative site for the Assembly complex, Dr Sangma said, “Several stories have come up in the newspapers on this. All these issues would be discussed at the upcoming HPC meet”.
Dr Sangma also added that the HPC would decide on whether Tara Ghar is a heritage site or not.
The High Power Committee, consisting of the Chief Minister, Assembly Speaker, Leader of the Opposition and others, had in 2009 accepted the government land at Tara Ghar for constructing the new Assembly complex. Last year, the state government had handed over the land at Tara Ghar to the Assembly secretariat for constructing the new Assembly complex. The decision, which was welcomed by the Steering Committee Against Murder of Democracy, an umbrella organisation of social groups and activists, was however opposed by other groups and individuals. The opponents have been asserting that Tara Ghar, which earlier served as the official residence of the State chief ministers, is a “heritage site” which should be left untouched. The Meghalaya Government Construction Corporation (MGCC) had in March said that the 6.4 acre plot at Tara Ghar will consume only about 28 per cent of the built-up area while the remaining 72 per cent would be made available for vehicular parking and landscaping. It also claimed that only about four per cent of the trees located in and around Tara Ghar would be felled for constructing the Assembly complex. The State has not had a permanent Assembly house since January 9, 2001 when an inferno gutted the picturesque and historical Assembly building at Khyndai Lad (Police Bazar).
