By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Acquiring land in Meghalaya for Government projects is always a herculean task and the Ri Bhoi district administration is finding it tough to cope up with the expectations of the Government to acquire land with less manpower and less expertise.
While most of the land acquisition for different important projects is going on in Ri Bhoi district, but the district administration is suffering from lack of manpower which could expedite the land acquisition process for different projects.
Ri Bhoi district is by far the most happening district when it comes to land acquisition and presently land is being acquired for Umsning Bypass under the Umiam-Jorabat Four lane road project , railway project, Meghalaya Police 6th Battalion headquarter and many others.
However sources on the request of anonymity said that there are only six Extra Assistant Commissioners in the district and most of the time they are pre-occupied with other Government engagements and it becomes impossible for them to carry out surveys for land acquisition.
It is learnt that some of the EACs do not even have vehicles to go to different areas and carry out the land survey for different project that needs to be undertaken in the district.
It is also rued that there is no training programme and institutes for EACs to equip themselves with technical know how of conducting a land survey since they lack technical knowledge to conduct such surveys.
Another major hurdle for the administration in acquiring land is the complicated land rights in Meghalaya and since Government has no say over the lands, it takes much longer than usual for the administration to convince the land owner to part away their land.