SHILLONG, April 25: The residents of Harijan Colony have finally agreed to relocate from Them Iew Mawlong with several riders, including the provision of land for the 342 families in the European Ward of the city.
The Harijan Panchayat Committee (HPC) on Monday held a crucial meeting with the state government on the relocation offer.
Speaking to media persons after the meeting, Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong said the HPC has submitted the proposal with several conditions even while agreeing to relocate.
The government will now prepare a blueprint and the proposals will be communicated to the HPC after which they will again hold a meeting with the residents to reach a final conclusion, he said.
The next meeting is scheduled to be held before May 15.
According to Tynsong, the HPC made a condition that all the 342 settlers of the colony should be resettled in the same location, which should be a government revenue land. They want plots in the European Ward that they can own for their future generations.
“We have instructed the Urban Affairs department to prepare the proposals for submitting to the HPC,” Tynsong said, adding that the government is identifying 2-3 locations in this regard.
Both the parties came to the negotiation table following an order of the High Court of Meghalaya.
Tynsong said once both sides reach a conclusion, they will jointly file an affidavit before the high court for the closure of the case.
HPC chairman, Gurjeet Singh said they don’t want multi-storey buildings but they want the land and the cost of construction of their new homes to be borne by the government.
“We want 200 sq. metres (approximately 2,150 sq. ft) of land for each family and it would come to around 9-10 acres for the 342 families,” he said.
Stating that the municipal buildings are already damaged, he said the total area of the land in the Harijan Colony measures around 3.33 acres.
In the proposal submitted to the government, the HPC sought ₹20 lakh as the construction cost for each house with all facilities.
The HPC also said the shifting of the Gurdwara Guru Nanak Darbar, Shiv Mandir, Durga Puja Mandir, Valmiki Ashram, CNI Church and Guru Nanak School are not acceptable to the community.
The HPC further said about 60 people who earn their livelihood by running shops along the colony lane must be allowed to operate at the same place.
“We are not against relocation but we want a permanent settlement,” Singh said, adding that the matter would have been resolved if the government had held discussions with them in these last four years.
Alleging that they were being exploited without permission for land and NOCs for electricity, he said: “The government turned our area into a slum and if they had given us permission, we would have removed the tag of slum from our area.”
Asked about the sudden change in their stand, Singh said they also want to be settled and they have realised that there is no point in fighting.
“If the government is willing to fulfil our demands, we will move from there,” Singh said.
Govt should have rejected demands: Sawkmie
Shortly after the HPC outlined its demands, suspended Congress MLA from Mawlai, Process T Sawkmie said the state government should have outrightly rejected their demands.
Arguing that the demands were impractical, Sawkmie observed that the HPC was not interested in a meaningful discussion with the government.
“There are lakhs of landless people in our state and they want a huge chunk of land in addition to the construction cost as well which is not practical,” he added.
