By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The Civil Society Women’s Organization (CSWO) has opposed the proposed plan of the State Government to acquire 2000 acres of land in New Shillong Township (NST). CSWO president Agnes Kharshiing on Sunday said that the NST was planned by few ‘scrupulous people’ in Governance who plan to take away tribal lands in order to increase influx and fill bring more people for their vote banks.
The Government is planning to acquire land in NST to de-congest the State capital. “It is in this New Shillong Township that some IAS officers have managed to allot to themselves land at Re 1 per sq ft,” Kharshiing pointed out.
According to Kharshiing, out of the 370.26 hectares of land already purchased by the Government, more than 200 acres are purchased from forged unregistered documents. She also alleged that despite several letters to the Chief Minister, the Meghalaya Urban Development Authority (MUDA) and to the Deputy Commissioner and an FIR, no action has been initiated so far against the perpetrators.
The CSWO is of the opinion that developments should not come at the cost of loss of tribal land, Kharshiing said, adding that it was not right on the part of the Government to grab land, especially agricultural and forest land, to make shopping malls and commercial institutions.
“This is a ploy to be able to trade off tribal lands to financing banks, and sell off the land in the Public-Private-partnership (PPP) mode so that the corrupt can fleece from the loans and the future generation is left with repayment of the loans,” the CSWO leader said.
It may be mentioned that the Government is planning to acquire more land in New Shillong Township for multi- prone activities including construction of shopping malls, truck terminus, residential colonies, commercial institutions and other activities.