Govt to accommodate residents of Tura Civil Hospital land

SHILLONG: The deputy chief minister in charge, revenue and disaster management, RC Laloo, said on Thursday that the Government will explore ways and means to accommodate people currently residing on the land of Tura Civil Hospital when the expansion of the same takes place.
He was replying to a call attention moved by Independent legislator John Leslee Sangma on the recent protest by residents against the proposed eviction by the district administration.
Laloo said a large crowd from Rongkha Chiring, part of Mouza X coming within the land of Tura Civil Hospital, marched to the office of the GHADC with the demand that Mouza X be excluded from the jurisdiction of the Land and Revenue Department of the GHADC. They also submitted a representation to the Council.
The GHADC had given patta to the Civil Hospital in 2014.
According to the petitioners, the State Government was forcibly trying to evict them without following procedures on the pretext of construction of medical college and they sought GHADC’s intervention, Laloo said.
The district administration wanted to carry out a survey of the residents of the areas around Tura Civil Hospital which is encroached by several hundreds of families, he said.
The Rs 189-crore Tura Medical College with 100 seats has been sanctioned and is coming up in Doldegre. Besides the construction of the college, upgradation of Tura Civil Hospital is also on the cards.
Moreover, Tura Civil Hospital land will be used for construction of hostels, quarters for staff and other establishments for the proposed medical college.
Earlier in 2014, eviction notices were served by the district administration to three encroachers for the installation of an effluent treatment plant. The eviction notices had been challenged in the Meghalaya Board of Revenue and the High Court of Meghalaya, but in vain, he said.
However, there are two other cases filed in the High Court by the Nokma of the Danakgre Aking, Enila Ch Marak, who claims that the area of the Tura Civil Hospital falls outside the land that was acquired in 1972-73 by the Government.
She also claimed that jurisdiction of Nokma of Danakgre Aking land is spread over vast area of Tura and its adjoining area, including Rongkha Chiring village, Laloo said.