SHILLONG, Oct 17: State Planning Board (SPB) Chairman Lambor Malngiang on Sunday urged Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma not to allow people from outside to meddle with the decision of the state government to relocate the settlers of the Harijan Colony at Them Iew Mawlong.
“The state government has arrived at the decision to relocate the staff of the SMB and other departments after the report of the High-Level Committee (HLC),” Malngiang, also the local MLA, said.
Pointing out that the relocation was needed to decongest the area, he said the board had assured the people following a demand in 2018 for a permanent solution to the long-pending issue.
According to him, the state government had constituted the HLC for coming up with recommendations to resolve the prolonged once and for all.
Malngiang asserted the state government is shifting the employees of the SMB and other departments to a better place. “It is really unfortunate that there is an attempt to misinterpret that the residents of Them Iew Mawlong would be displaced,” he said.
The SMB chairman observed that people from outside are trying to interfere in the matters of the state.
“I fail to understand why a delegation from Punjab met the Governor to seek his intervention in the decision of the government. It is only an attempt to create more confusion. We should not allow people from outside to meddle in the matters of the state,” he said.
He also urged the Chief Minister not to entertain any delegation from outside that wants to question the state government’s decision to relocate the residents of Them Iew Mawlong.
Stating that there are only around 120-plus employees of the SMB and other departments who are legally staying at Them Iew Mawlong, Malngiang said it was surprising that the locality in question has about 1,000 people with voter IDs.