Harijan Colony residents to be shifted to SMB quarters

SHILLONG, Aug 31: Four years after constituting the High-Level Committee, the state government has finally decided to relocate 342 families from Harijan Colony to the existing quarters of the Shillong Municipal Board office on Bishop Cotton Road.
Revealing this here on Wednesday, Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong said the government has finalised the location identified by the Urban Affairs Department for relocating the residents of the colony.
“We have decided that the relocation will take place in the existing quarters of Shillong Municipal Board,” he said.
The government is happy with the technical report of the Urban Affairs department, which indicated that all the 342 families can be accommodated in the same place, Tynsong said.
He said the department has been instructed to bring all the details, including the drawings and estimates for constructing the quarters.
“Once these reports are submitted, I will have a meeting with the Harijan Panchayat Committee (HPC) probably by the end of this month,” Tynsong said.
About 30-40 flats or units will be constructed in the 12 blocks and these units will be allocated to the people whose names have already been submitted in the High Court of Meghalaya.
The government would have to demolish the existing buildings as they are not strong and reconstruct the units for which the necessary instructions have been issued.
The area is around 2.5 acres.
The Deputy CM made it clear that the government will accept the relocation of only 342 families and not more.
The state government had recently contemplated relocating the residents to a site near the Reid Provincial Chest (TB) Hospital in Mawbah, but the Dorbar Shnong of the area said that the move would be opposed tooth and nail.
West Shillong MLA Mohendro Rapsang also opposed the Mawbah relocation plan owing to the density of the population there.
Tynsong had earlier stated the location in Mawbah seemed to be the most appropriate.
The state government had told the high court that it has prepared a blueprint for the allotment of three acres of land near the TB Hospital for the construction of a multi-storey building to house the Harijan Colony residents.