Govt declines HPC plea for more time

SHILLONG, March 16: Urban Affairs Minister, Sniawbhalang Dhar on Thursday said the state government has declined the request of the Harijan Panchayat Committee (HPC) to give them three months’ time to study the blueprint to relocate them from the Harijan Colony at Them Iew Mawlong.
He had a meeting with the members of the HPC at his chamber on Wednesday.
Dhar told reporters here on Thursday that the state government had asked the HPC to submit its reply within April 10.
The government had earlier given the HPC three months’ time after submitting the relocation blueprint to its members.
“We did not accept their request since we felt three months’ time is too long. We decided to write a letter asking them to reply within April 10,” he said.
The government will move forward on the basis of their reply, he added.
“The matter will be placed before the meeting of the High-Level Committee headed by Deputy Chief Minister, Prestone Tynsong,” he said.
Stating that they had committed to resolving this matter after the elections, Dhar said they would try to resolve it as soon as possible.
“We have witnessed that the court also intervenes. But we are going to stick with our commitment,” he said.
On September 29 last year, the state government made a presentation on the dimension and design of the proposed buildings to be constructed for accommodating the 342 families of the Harijan Colony before submitting the blueprint to the HPC.
The government also decided to hand over the blueprint for the construction of multi-story flats at the existing official quarters of the Shillong Municipal Board to the HPC.
The decision was taken after the state government had outrightly rejected the proposal of the HPC in April last year seeking 200 square meters of land for each of the 342 families within the European Ward and money for constructing their homes.