SHILLONG: The Harijan Panchayat Committee (HPC) on Wednesday said the government should ask for documents from the Syiem of Hima Mylliem, who had donated the land, while also advocating talks to end the standoff.
“The Syiem of Mylliem donated the land. Now the state government is asking us for documents, why not ask from the Syiem of Hima Mylliem?” the headman of HPC, Billu Singh, told The Shillong Times on Wednesday.
Singh also pointed out that since 2009 the Syiem of Hima Mylliem had given the land on which a Shiv temple, an ashram, a gurdwara and a school were constructed. He said the land was given on lease for 30 years.
Singh said the state government should consult the residents of the Harijan Colony regarding its plan to relocate them.
Asked whether they agree with the government’s move to relocate the residents, he said the government was yet to consult them.
“The government has not yet consulted us. There are educated youth amongst us and the government can speak to them. We only read the government’s statements in the papers,” he said.
“Even the chief minister and the deputy chief minister, who is the chairman of the High Level Committee (HLC), has not called us for talks… there will be some ways and means to end the standoff,” he said.
Singh also refuted allegations that the Harijan Colony is a hub of crime and said criminals take the name of the colony to tarnish its image.
“There is a misunderstanding here. We get the blame for the wrongs committed by others,” he said.
