SHILLONG: Home Minister HDR Lyngdoh said on Tuesday that the State Government would not approve the proposal of setting up of BSF headquarters in Nongstoin without people’s consent.
Replying to a call attention motion moved by HSPDP legislator from Nongstoin Diosstarness Jyndiang in the Assembly, Lyngdoh said the Commandant of the 65 Battalion BSF had approached the West Khasi Hills deputy commissioner indicating its intention to establish a battalion headquarters in Nongstoin and requested him to initiate necessary action to acquire about 100 acres of land.
Lyngdoh informed the House that the deputy commissioner, after identifying land at Sohpian, wrote to the Commandant to fix a date for inspection.
The Commandant, along with the DC (revenue), carried out spot inspection at Sohpian last year.
However, the land owners later retracted their willingness to part with the land and the DC then identified another plot at Sohpian and requested the Director of Land Records and Surveys to depute their surveyors to survey the land in the same year.
Meanwhile, the consent of the KHADC was also sought for land acquisition.
Following the visit of the IG BSF, the DC consulted the local community at Sohpian on land acquisition but due to opposition by a large section of the people, he requested the Commandant not to construct the BSF battalion headquarters on the proposed land.
According to Lyngdoh, last year, the DC received a letter from the Commandant of the 65th Battalion of BSF saying 10 land owners and MLA Witting Mawsor have offered about 100 acres of land at Umjaram, Pyngdengrei in West Khasi Hills and requested the DC to examine the matter and process land acquisition.
Again the DC received another petition from the Sohbar clan from Shallang area in West Khasi Hills informing that the clan has agreed to offer their land to BSF at Kyllonmathei, Shallang.
The DC then forwarded the petition to the Commandant for information and appropriate action at his end. The Commandant later replied that the land at Shallang was not suitable and requested the DC to initiate land acquisition at Umjaram, Nongstoin.
As a follow-up action, the DC requested the land owners of Umjaram to obtain and produce NOC from the Dorbar Pyngdengre and neighbouring villages but the land owners failed to produce the same.
The DC then convened a meeting with the landowners and the headmen of Pyngdengrei and neighbouring villages. The headmen sought a month’s time to take up the matter with the Dorbar and the executive committee of the Dorbar Shnong.
However, the Dorbar Shnong, Pyndengrei Nongstoin Syiemship, in its meeting held this month decided not to accept the offer to set up the BSF battalion headquarters at Umjaram.
Earlier, moving the call attention in the Assembly, the Nongstoin MLA urged the State Government not to move ahead with the proposal to set up the BSF headquarters in Nongstoin town.
The Nongstoin MLA said he did not want the same problem in Nongstoin as it is in Shillong due to the presence of huge chunks of defence land in the heart of the city.
