By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The complexity of the tribal identity is in fact the main obstacle for the implementation of developmental projects especially in terms of land acquisition in the state, rued Meghalaya Urban Affairs Minister, Ampareen Lyngdoh.
“The tribal communities in Meghalaya are often suspicious whenever we come up with developmental promises”, said Lyngdoh.
Highlighting this at the inauguration of the 1st Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) regional workshop for North East States on Capacity Building and Training for Decision Makers and Nodal Officers on “GIS Mapping, Total Station Survey, MIS Development and Integration of GIS with MIS” at North Eastern Space Applications Centre (NESAC), Ri Bhoi on Tuesday, Lyngdoh said there tends to be a lot of conflicts when they meet with the tribal communities with complicated identities to sort out ways for the implementation of any developmental projects as this concerns the acquisition of land.
However, reacting to this problem, the Urban Affairs Minister said exposing and training the people is very important at the same time considered looking at scientific solution for the rapid growth of development.
The presentations and demonstrations on GIS Mapping, Total Station Survey, MIS development, etc are in fact enabling the generation of information in the forms of maps which will be the inputs for planners and decision makers. “It is from this back drop that we are keenly looking forward to the deliberations of the workshop and make it possible the preparation of comprehensive database on slums”, added Lyngdoh.
Around 49 participants from all over the North Eastern states attended the workshop. The others present at the workshop includes Director of Science and Technology-NEC, Dr S Chaudhari, Director of NESAC, Dr S Sudhakar, Group Director Urban Studies and Geoinformatics, National Remote Sensing Centre-Hyderabad, Dr V Raghavaswamy, GIS Specialist, MoHUPA- New Delhi, Aparajita Ghatak, Director of the State Urban Affairs, Dr BK Panda, scientists and others.