SHILLONG, Jan 27: Urban Affairs Minister, Sniawbhalang Dhar said the government will go by the Meghalaya High Court’s order in relocating the residents of the Harijan Colony.
He said this in response to an allegation that the government was violating the High Court’s
order relating to the Colony.
The residents of the Colony maintain that the High Court has sought status quo on the matter.
The government had said the relocation of the staff of the Shillong Municipal Board (SMB) from Harijan Colony at Them Iew Mawlong will begin after the civic body shifts its office temporarily to the Lumpyngngad Cottage near the chief secretary’s official residence at Bishop Cotton Road, followed by the renovation of the staff quarters at the present temporary office.
Dhar said the matter is under process and the employees of other departments will be shifted from the Colony after the SMB staff.
Admitting that the process may take some time, he said the SMB will need to renovate its present temporary office opposite Sherwood Bungalow after the shifting.
It is learnt that the staff quarters have to be renovated as the board had to dismantle some partitions to create the office space.
The exercise of shifting the staff will begin after the staff quarters are renovated. The state government will allot quarters to 128 employees, Dhar said.
Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong had stated that the “illegal settlers” at Them Iew Mawlong may come under the purview of the Meghalaya Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1980. The state government will enforce the Act once all the employees of the SMB and other departments are shifted from the area, he said.
The state government had earlier taken over the land at Them Iew Mawlong, measuring about 12,444.13 square metres, after executing a tripartite lease deed and paying Rs 2 crore to the Syiem of Hima Mylliem on October 29 last year.