By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: For every new Speaker followed by the formation of a new Government there is a new choice for a permanent Assembly site.
Indications are rife that the trend of new Assembly Speakers opting for fresh choices of a permanent Assembly site is likely to be followed by the Speaker AT Mondal.
The Meghalaya Assembly has been functioning from the temporary building site at Rilbong after the heritage building at Khyndailad (Police Bazar) was gutted on January 9, 2001.
With a court case pending against the construction of the Assembly at the proposed site at Tara Ghar, there are indications that Mondal may opt for a new site.
Some NGOs had filed a PIL against the construction of the Assembly at Tara Ghar citing destruction of environment and heritage buildings.
Moreover, the construction of the Assembly at Tara Ghar opposite to the Ward’s Lake, a tourist spot, will add to the traffic congestion.
Mondal, after assuming charge recently, said that he wants to complete the construction of the new Assembly building within his tenure, but is yet to decide on the site. After the Assembly was gutted by fire 12 years ago, the then Government and the Speaker ED Marak had decided to construct the new House at the old site at Khyndai Lad.
The construction work, without calling tender, was allotted to one C Pala by Marak in 2002 and this followed soil testing at the site.
After two years, a move to construct the Assembly building at Mawdiangdiang in the outskirts of Shillong backfired as a resolution was passed in the House against the desire of the then Chief Minister DD Lapang in this regard.
During the same year (2004), several pine trees were felled and the Assembly walls at the old site were dismantled to beautify Khyndai Lad and also in the name of easing traffic congestion.
During the tenure of Speaker Martin M Danggo, the Government went ahead with laying the foundation stone for the new Assembly building at Upper Shillong on December 8, 2006.
It was the then Meghalaya Governor MM Jacob who had laid the foundation stone at Upper Shillong when JD Rymbai was the Chief Minister.
However, after yet another change of the Speaker and the formation of a new Government in 2008, the then Speaker Bindo M Lanong favoured the construction of the new Assembly at Khyndai Lad.
However, the damage was already done at the old site after several pine trees were cut and walls dismantled to widen the road at Police Bazar, which made it impossible to construct the new Assembly at the old site.
Two years later, the new Speaker Charles Pyngrope, supported by the new Government, decided to construct the Assembly at Tara Ghar.
With legal hurdles standing in the way of constructing the new Assembly building at Tara Ghar, there are chances that the Government may select an alternate site for the early construction of the building.