Ex-chief of Tynring village sacked for involvement in illegal land deal
SHILLONG: Sohryngkham MDC Pyniaid Sing Syiem (HSPDP) has questioned and raised objections to the decision taken by a section of members of the previous Executive Committee of the Dorbar of Shnat Raid Tynring to give the power of attorney to an individual for selling the Raid (community) land.
According to the MDC, the letter mentioning the power of attorney given to one Marshall Nongrum – a member of the Executive Committee of the Dorbar – had even been submitted to East Khasi Hills Deputy Commissioner Sanjay Goyal in 2012.
The letter submitted to the Deputy Commissioner which was signed by at least nine members of the previous Executive Committee of the Dorbar led by former Sordar C.A. Diengdoh, stated that they had had given the power of attorney to Marshall Nongrum for selling 1000 acres of Raid land to the Meghalaya Urban Development Authority (MUDA).
Interestingly, the said letter specifically mentioned that the money should be deposited in Nongrum’s personal account, the MDC claimed.
“The money should have been deposited in the account of the Dorbar since it was Raid land which was being acquired by the Government,” the MDC said, while claiming that the Dorbar and the villagers were completely unaware of the authority given to Nongrum to sell the community land.
“This matter came to light only after some members of the village filed an RTI,” Syiem said.
Meanwhile, the women and youth organizations of Tynring village have hailed the decision of the KHADC Executive Committee to suspend the Sordar of the village C.A. Diengdoh for attempting to sell over 1000 acres of community land to the State government without the consent of the Dorbar.
According to them, the former Sordar was removed by the KHADC on March 26 following a petition filed against him for misuse of power and failure to convene the Dorbar meeting for more than four years.
“We staged protests against the proposed move of the Sordar to illegally sell the community land measuring over 1000 acres to the Meghalaya Urban Development Authority,” president of the village Seng Longkmie, P. Kharmukhi, told reporters at a news conference here on Wednesday.
Incidentally, a section of the villagers who were supporting Diengdoh, had staged a protest against the decision of the KHADC to remove him and had alleged that the acting Sordar appointed in his place was conniving with the local MDC (Syiem) and trying to sell the Raid land measuring around 80 acres.
Meanwhile, the Sohryngkham MDC maintained that he would continue to protest against any proposed move by the State government to acquire the community land.
Syiem also rubbished allegations leveled by a section of residents of Tynring village that he was involved in an illegal move to sell 80 acres of Raid land to the MUDA and also denied having any hand in the removal of C.A. Diengdoh as the Sordar of the village.
It may be mentioned here that MUDA has been trying to acquire land at Tynring village for expansion of the New Shillong Township project.
