By Toki Blah
Most of us and probably many of the readers of this write-up are Shillong bred and born. Each one familiar with and thankful to belong to one of the most habitable places on God’s Earth. This statement is made with no intention of being mawkishly parochial or provincial about Shillong my birth place but instead it is simply stating an established fact. Of late however this pride and excitement over the Scotland of the East has begun to jade and is replaced with an anxiety that perhaps all is not well with this pearl of the NE. We look around us and this fear is not groundless. We ask questions; we ponder; we introspect and the uncomfortable truth sinks in that perhaps it is we the inhabitants of the place that have to do more with the deterioration of the city than anybody else. We can’t, however much some may want to, blame this one on a ‘villainous outsider’. It’s amply clear the rapid relapse of Shillong into a filthy, garbage infested city is an insider job! Scratch the surface and the truth is revealed – we the people of Shillong have no clue; no idea; no seriousness about civic management of a growing metropolis! Question is, why in Heaven’s name is this happening?
Any attempt to answer the above will simply push forward another question. Can’t help wondering how older, larger and more populous urban centres, say London, Mumbai, Beijing, Tokyo, New York for instance, cope with their gigantic civic problems, waste and garbage included, which definitely are a million times more complicated than ours? The answer is very simple – Civic governance of large populated centres is run and managed by an urban civic institution known as a Municipality. We gasp in indignant surprise and sputter “But- but –but- but Shillong too has a Municipality. So why is it not working here for us?” It’s not working because all of us have connived, conspired together and collectively plotted in not allowing the Shillong Municipality to function! Every one of us, politicians, Government, traditional institutions, rangbah shnongs, pressure groups and even educated people who should know better, are totally against the idea of an elected functioning Municipality. A Municipality is a specifically designed institution for civic governance; it is composed of elected representatives of an urban constituency; a time tested and proven paradigm on how to run and administer towns and cities; a critical need for any growing urban entity. It has universal acceptability. In Meghalaya we have, patriots (men ieit ri) who think otherwise. They continue to believe (proof notwithstanding) that the rest of the world is practising civic nonsense. A functioning Shillong Municipality is a threat to our identity; a danger to the Jaitbynriew. Of course no one has cared to explain how and why, nor offer an alternative. Everyone has simply been asked to accept an unfounded falsehood. Talk about fake news! It’s as simple as that.
There is the argument that an elected Municipal Board is an alien concept and that it will be overwhelmed by outsiders. Taking this argument to its logical conclusion one can say that the State Legislative Assembly too is an alien concept but surprisingly even after 40 years of elections it still remains steadfast under the control of elected indigenous members. This is because of the policy of reserved seats. The same applies for the Municipal Board of Shillong. Out of the total 27 seats to the SMB, 22 seats are reserved for the locals. Point is that all of us have been misled for the last 40 years by sheer speculative nonsense and unfounded fear. The fear is also propagated that the Ward Commissioner will supersede and overtake all the powers and functions of the Rangbah Shnong and that Ward Commissioner elections, fought on party lines will bring in unnecessary rift and discord within the shnongs. We definitely can’t let that happen but the fact remains that both these fears can easily be avoided and eliminated by amending the existing Municipal Act. The Act can be amended so that Dorbar Shnongs take control of the SMB and elections to the Board need not be on party lines. It can be done and simply needs some imaginative thinking on the part of Urban Affairs. Shillong needs a strong and functioning Municipal Board controlled and managed by popularly elected members to take care of civic governance. The current “one man CEO to take care of everything” concept of civic governance is absurd. It is simply not working. The rest of the world has an answer to our problems. Time to adapt to that answer!
The reluctance to allow a functioning civic management institution for Shillong city is just one of the confusions faced by the average Meghalayan. Add to this is the ongoing confusion and bewilderment over the role, function and jurisdiction of the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) vis a vis the Meghalaya Government. One is bewildered by the KHADC hunger to take over the jurisdiction of the State. Is this healthy? The KHADC is not a traditional institution cloaked in mythical history whose role and functions can liberally be interpreted as the will and fancies of God the maker and creator (da ka mon U Blei nongbuh nong thaw). The KHADC is a creation of the Constitution of India and its role, functions and area of jurisdiction clearly spelled out and demarcated within the provisions of the 6th Schedule. The repugnancy provisions of para 12A of the 6th Schedule have amply demarcated the overriding powers of the State Govt over that of the KHADC. For the latter to now claim that Govt Acts and departments (MUDA for instance) have no jurisdiction in 6th Schedule areas is a dangerous precedence that can lead to a major constitutional crisis within all 6th Schedule areas. Should all development activities within 6th Schedule areas of the Khasi Hills be now handed over to the mercies of the KHADC, simply for someone to gain political mileage out of such a stance? Are all of us that gullible? A few unethical political personalities will gain out of this chaos. For the rest of us, we as Khasis have been led to the edge of a precipice and are standing on some very slippery ground. The anomaly has to be cleared and the sooner the better.
The State Govt is therefore sincerely urged to take up the KHADC challenge on MUDA to the courts (either High Court or Supreme Court) to the clear the air. Let the court decide what is right and what is wrong. Can’t allow unethical KHADC ambitions to keep nibbling away at crucial issues of governance! No two systems of governance can administer over the same subject and the citizens of the Khasi Hills must never be subjected to such administrative muddles.
Lastly, it has to be mentioned that the latest conflagration at Them Iewmawlong has once again pushed to the fore the mystifying role of the Syiem of Mylliem in today’s setup. He is supposed to be the controller and manager of Iewduh, the food basket for the entire city of Shillong. Visit the market and it will not be far-fetched to say that the Syiem has forced his subjects to eat from a garbage dump for that is the status of Iewduh, as far as cleanliness and sanitation is concerned. What happens to the huge revenue the Hima earns from Iewduh remains till date an unsolved mystery. One thing is certain it has never been ploughed back for the development of the market. The Syiem is also the guardian; the issuing authority for pattas or land documents. There is no law, rule, regulation or system of evaluation and monitoring on how the Syiem carries out this critical life or death function. Our identity is intertwined with our land tenure system. Sadly this identity can be sold to the highest bidder and no questions asked! How much of Hima Mylliem (at Mawpat forest, Them Iewmawlong, Iewduh and Jorabat) has been sold off and to whom, no one knows. Our eyes have been blinded by our reluctance to question tradition. The total lack of transparency and accountability of Hima Mylliem towards community assets has much to do with the incompetence and ineptitude of the KHADC, the institution that is supposed to uphold and promote tribal culture and welfare. To tell the truth there is great confusion in our society. Confusion often leading to social turmoil and unrest! Why do we continue to cling on to institutions and personalities that are so good at selling us down the drain? Why Indeed!