A year after unrest
SHILLONG: The Harijan Colony, exactly a year after the clash which rocked the city, remains heavily guarded with barricades and presence of security personnel, while Motphran point is bustling with normal activities amid banners about influx hanging in the monument located in the heart of the area.
The condition of Harijan Colony and the congested Motphran junction has not changed much after one year of the violent clash that took place in the area on May 31 last year.
A visit to the area on the evening of May 30 revealed that the situation is normal in both the areas. While Motphran remains bustling with activities, the Harijan Colony on the other hand is under tight security.
The situation is completely different from what it was a year ago when in the evening of May 31, hundreds of people came out in Motphran and pelted stones after a bus conductor and two others were assaulted in Harijan Colony.
The area witnessed stand-off between the protestors and the police and different areas of the town saw a few cases of arson and burning of vehicles for 4-5 days and when the situation went out of hand, the government suspended internet services in the state besides clamping curfew in and around Shillong for months.
During the five-day period of violence, almost 100 police personnel were injured while many protestors were arrested.
The situation turned normal only after the state government announced the constitution of a High Level Committee (HLC) to find out a permanent solution to the issue of relocating the residents of Harijan Colony.
Harijan committee stand
A year after, Secretary of the Harijan Panchayat Committee Gurjeet Singh said for the last one year, the situation has been peaceful and the police had protected them.
He claimed the order of the High Court of Meghalaya was delivered in their favour as he said the order clearly says that the government cannot have a title suit over the place since the land was given to them by Syiem of Hima Mylliem.
“Government is hell-bent on removing us and the HLC keeps on doing something from time to time,” he said even as he added that the committee has asked the Shillong Municipal Board to conduct inventory again.
“We have not received the notice till now. The moment we get it, we will file a contempt suit as the order clearly says that no government agency can disturb us,” he said while adding that the government should go by legal aspect of the matter.
KSU wants solution
On the other hand, KSU president Lambok Marngar said the union expects the Meghalaya government to expedite whole process of relocation.
“Government has formed HLC but we do not see any steps being taken by the government to move ahead except conducting surveys to find out the number of genuine settlers in the area,” he said.
According to Marngar, the KSU wants the state government to act aggressively on the matter since it is a long pending issue and if the problem continues to persist for long, the situation may lead to law and order problem again.
Asserting that many settlers in the colony do not have proper documents and are settled illegally there, Marngar added that the state government should cooperate with District Council and Hima Mylliem and all of them should move together to resolve the issue once and for all.
HLC work on: Hamlet
Urban Affairs Minister Hamlet Dohling, who is also the member of the HLC, said that the government has taken the matter seriously and it is keen to address the issue for which the committee was formed.
Informing that the job of the committee is to study and find out a solution to the issue, he added that it is not easy to resolve a matter which has been pending for long awaiting solution, within a short period of time.
“We want to resolve the issue in such a way that it would benefit the people of the state,” he said.
Stating that the committee had held discussion on 5-6 occasions, he added that the committee will make serious efforts to complete the task and submit the report to the government at the earliest.