By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The newly appointed Deputy Commissioner of East Khasi Hills, Sanjay Goyal has expressed his inability to deal with the compensation issue at Mawryngkneng following the illegal dumping of soil into the paddy fields by the GR Infra Company stating that “This decision should come from the government”.
Talking to reporters here on Thursday, Goyal said the decision to pay compensation to the affected farmers at Mawryngkneng should be from the government.
“It is difficult to decide about this issue at my level”, Goyal said adding that the government is probing into the matter to check whether the same should be paid or not.
Goyal also informed that the land where the soil was dumped falls outside the area which was acquired by the government to construct the Two Lane Shillong Bye-Pass. “But I have been informed that illegal dumping of soil by the company outside the acquired land has brought immense problems to the farmers and land owners”, Goyal stated.
Recently, the KSU Mawryngkneng submitted a memorandum to the PWD Minister HDR Lyngdoh asking him to take initiative in this regard and at the same time to direct the department concerned to speed up the process of compensation.
Time and again, the affected farmers of this area have apprised the then Deputy Commissioner of East Khasi Hills district, J Lyngdoh about this problem demanding the government to pay compensation to the affected farmers, claimed the KSU Mawryngkneng.
“Since I have taken over as the DC just a couple of weeks back, I cannot elaborate on this issue and cannot say whether actions has been taken against the company or not”, Goyal said.
However, when asked about the reports of the recent enquiry team constituted by the then EKH DC, J Lyngdoh to probe into the matter, Goyal said “I am unaware of this and I have to go through the whole report before taking the matter any further.”
It may be recalled that the illegal dumping of soil by the company GR Infra Project Ltd entrusted to construct the Two Lane Shillong Bye-Pass has affected many farmers and land owners as most of these lands can no longer be used for cultivation purpose thereby adversely affecting their livelihood since most of the farmers are solely dependent on these lands to support their family.