‘Headman not issuing address proof to non-supporters’

SHILLONG: Residents of Amlanai in West Jaintia Hills have alleged that the headman, T Surong, is not issuing residential certificates to those who are not his supporters.
The allegation comes two days after Surong held a press conference in the city and denied the allegations previously levelled by the Khasi Students’ Union.
Addressing a press conference on Friday, Jewel Mukhim of Amlanai, which is under Amlarem constituency, said Surong told him that his EPIC has been struck off from the village list and did not give him the residential certificate.
Mukhim then approached the SDO in Amlarem who wrote a letter to Surong directing him to issue the certificate. But the headman ignored it.
Later, the SDO issued the residential certificate to Mukhim.
According to Mukhim, the headman denied the certificate to the residents as they are not his supporters.
Asked why the headman is being biased, Mukhim said, “He is an authoritarian.”
Mukhim said another contentious matter is that of the tax paid by the cultivators to the “zamindars”, which is the Mannar clan.
He alleged that the farmers in the village who support Surong pay their tax to him while some cultivators pay to the Mannar clan. Surong is the president of the farmers’ association in the village.
Meanwhile, the Mannar clan sought a clarification from Surong to give an explanation within one week on the allegation that the clan proposed to lease their land for setting up a cement plant.
“We have never thought about it. It is an ancestral land. Let him (Surong) produce the NOC to prove that there was a move,” said F Mannar, who was also present at the press meet.