SHILLONG, Oct 22: The residents of Harijan Colony are gripped by uncertainty, a sense of rejection and fear about their future as their eviction from the area has once again gained currency.
It was in 2018 that an altercation between two groups of people in the Colony spiralled into an unrest that lasted for weeks. The old demand for relocation was renewed and the state government constituted the High Level Committee (HLC) under the chairmanship of Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong to find an acceptable solution to the demand.
Following the recommendations of the HLC submitted to the government on September 28 and the Cabinet decision on October 7 to take ownership of the land and shift the employees of the Shillong Municipal Board to the temporary location at Bishop Cotton Road, an uneasy calm and a feeling of uncertainty has gripped the area.
“It has become a very fearful situation now, when our people go out of the locality some people view them with hatred in their eyes which is very depressing,” said Rohit Singh, a youth from Harijan Colony, despair writ large on his face.
Pointing out that the issue is in court and they have the required documents to back their claims, he said, “The government is not honouring the status quo order and this is an abuse of power and an insult to the Constitution of India.”
Referring to the Constitution, he said a citizen of this country is free to reside anywhere in this country and removing or even trying to remove them forcibly amounts to violation of it.
“The Centre should take note of this that this is a clear case of violation of the Indian Constitution,” he added.
Another youth pursuing a postgraduate course, Jovan Jeet Singh, said, “This is mental torment. We have been suffering like this for a longtime and now there are more restrictions being imposed even on our vehicular movements.”
“As a resident of Shillong we have been living here for more than two centuries now. Generation after generation of our people have lived here and the government must recognise that and least give us our due,” he said.
Pointing out that in countries like Canada if someone resides for over seven years is granted with residency, he said in our own country and the place where we have been born and brought up for generations now the state government is trying to deprive the citizens of their rights.
Gurjit Singh, secretary of the Harijan Panchayat Committee has written a letter to the East Khasi Hills Deputy Commissioner on Thursday seeking no action or intervention by any quarters in the matter of relocation of the residents of the Harijan Colony in Shillong citing that the matter is subjudice.
He had also requested for more security to be provided to the residents of the Harijan Colony.
Gurjit stressed that the matter is in court and should be dealt with as per the law and anything beyond the court initiated by the State government is a violation of the court, their rights and the constitution.
The Meghalaya High Court had on April 10 directed the State Government and the HPC to maintain status quo on the issue. However the State government is working on taking over the possession of the land.
It may be mentioned that according to the inventory report submitted by the Shillong Municipal Board (SMB) there are a total of 184 employees residing in the area which includes 128 employees of the SMB and 56 others working in other government departments.