TURA: Leaders of Garo Hills NGOs including the GSU, FKJGP, AYWO and ADE recently met GHADC Chief Executive Member (CEM), Dipul R Marak and raised various issues that need to be immediately taken up by the Council.
Among the issues raised during their meeting include the ‘Boldamgre issue’ in which one, Olsin Ch Marak, the son-n-law of the Nokma, who has since passed away, has been accused of illegally selling land to the encroachers belonging to the minority community despite a case pending in the GHADC Court.
“Despite a case being registered against Olsin Ch Marak in 2014, he continued to illegally sell land and the GHADC has remained a mute spectator. After a ruling on the case was announced in August 29 2016 in the court of the EM i/c Land & Revenue, the same was appealed against in 2016 and the case has since been transferred to the CEM’s court. However, in almost two years, there was not even a single hearing,” the organizations claimed and alleged the involvement of a politician in shielding the accused.
According to the NGOs the hearing on the case was scheduled for April 18 this year, which was being delayed by Marak’s lawyer citing ill health and date has been rescheduled for May 10.
“We are prepared for agitation if the GHADC fails to stop this person. We demand the removal of these illegal settlers. We demand that the land transfer act be strictly implemented in its entirety. We also make this demand in light of the order in 2016 which states that the accused has admitted in court that he was the main culprit in the illegal sale of land from the Boldamgre A’king without consultations with the clan members. We also demand that Smt Rongchira S Sangma, being the granddaughter of the last recorded Nokma Lt Smt Cholma S Sangma is appointed the new Nokma of Boldamgre,” they demanded.
Discussions on the codification of Garo Customary Laws (GCL) also took place during their meeting where they stressed on the need for the law in the Council to give protection to the indigenous people.
“The GCL has the potential to further strengthen the Land Transfer Act by removing the ability of indirect transfer of land to a non-tribal by way of marriage,” they said adding, assurance was given by the CEM to take up the matter in this year’s July session.
Stating that the use of the Assembly electoral rolls for GHADC lections was diluting the spirit of the Sixth Schedule, the NGOs expressed the need to prepare a separate electoral roll for the Council, so that non-tribal participation can be prevented.
“A better suggestion was placed that the ADCs in Mizoram do not contend with the likelihood of the non-indigenous peoples interfering in their conduct of business in the ADCs. The acts and rules of the ADCs in Mizoram do not allow the participation of the non-indigenous community. We are satisfied with this suggestion but may have to wait for the session to start and for the amendment to be placed and legislated to stop non-tribal participation in the GHADC elections. But we aim to pursue the matter,” they said.
Another issue discussed during the meeting included the rampant issuance of TNT to outsiders by the GHADC with the organizations alleging that ‘even the non-tribal community has begun to complain’.
“Regarding this, the Tura Municipal Board has to keep its promise made earlier that the time has come to check the issue of rooms once again because the people who have been allotted rooms are just renting the rooms to others. There are allegations that some families own more than one room with the added allegation that salaried persons of the Tura Municipal Board has managed to get multiple rooms allotted to them. We aim to check all the TNTs,” the organizations said.
The issue of 15 month’s pending salary to the employees of the GHADC was also raised by the NGO’s to which, it was reportedly assured that the employees’ five month’s salary would be released at the earliest.