SHILLONG: KHNAM MLA, Adelbert Nongrum, has expressed concern over the loss of state’s land to governments and other agencies.
Hailing Urban Affairs Minister, Hamlet Dohling, for not handing over a plot of land to the Nagaland government, he recalled that in 2016 the state government had allotted a plot measuring over two acre to Nagaland for setting up a medical centre for its people.
He said that if there is an opportunity, the state government should take the land back from Nagaland even if an additional amount has to be paid for it.
Stating that Meghalaya is a small state with an area of 22,720 sq km, the North Shillong legislator said “land is life”, adding “once someone loses it, it is lost forever”.
Maintaining that state’s land is being taken over at the interstate and international boundaries, Nongrum claimed that huge chunks of land are owned by an IAS officer in Umsawli.
In the city, a large portion of the land is under the possession of the Cantonment Board and the armed forces, he said.
“In two years from now, Meghalaya will observe its 50th anniversary but the question is, are we truly prepared for this celebration,” Nongrum questioned.
He also wondered why the state has been so generous with its land that it cannot even foresee its bleak future.