Allotment of prime government land to a private party
Editor,
As reported in your esteem daily (ST) on the 4th& 5th August 2023, it is understood that the Government is planning to allocate a big plot of land from the Farm of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Department in Upper Shillong to the owner of the Anjalee petrol pump in exchange for the land that the Government is acquiring at Anjalee point Shillong to widen the road. Then on the 20th August 2023, it appeared in your esteemed daily that the said plot of agriculture land was handed over to the Urban Affairs Department. It may be mentioned here that the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary is the allied sector of the Agriculture Department being the parent Department. The farm land at Upper Shillong actually belongs to Agriculture Department. As per the Agricultural rules and National Agriculture Policy, Agriculture Farm land cannot be transferred or allotted to any other party, except for the purpose of Agricultural Development Projects for the benefit and upliftment of the Farming Community and to ensure food security in the country. Since Meghalaya has no Agriculture policy of its own, it is automatically governed by the Agricutural Policy of India. This Policy clearly mentions that Agricultural land cannot be used for non-agricultural purposes. It is unfortunate that the Government of Meghalaya is ignorant of the importance of agricultural farm lands and its guiding rules and policies. Hence, the government will have to think seriously on this decision before it attracts the attention of the Ministry of Agriculture.
Since the Government requires the land of Anjalee Petrol Pump for Public interest, it is the prerogative of the Government to acquire it without assurance for an alternative site. It can pay compensation to the owner or approach the Defense Authorities to provide a plot for the Petrol Pump. In fact 60 acres for a Government Farm is too small. More land should be acquired to expand it. I think there are thousands of acres under Cantonment area which extend from Iewduh to Nongkrem etc. As such the Cantonment can easily provide an acre for the Petrol Pump. From time to time the Government is losing prime land to encroachers, such as areas along the Umkhrah River, European Ward etc. It is high time to evict all these encroachers and reclaim all Government land to ease traffic congestion in public interest.
The move by the Government to shift the petrol pump to ease traffic congestion is a welcome idea. Traffic congestion in and around Shillong is going from bad to worse. Now the Government is in a state of panic as it just can’t find a solution to the problem. All this is because of the negligence, the delays, the blunders committed from time to time. State and Central Government Offices should be constructed in New Shillong. The buildings which could have been built in new Shillong are NEEPCO, the North Eastern Council, the Meghalaya High Court and many other under construction Government buildings in Lachumiere, the State Transport Office, Police Bazar, etc. The rotary at Khyndailad is too large for such a small road, its circumference can be reduced by at least ten feet.
The proposed construction of a flyover is also a welcome idea but how long will it take? If the Government is really serious about this project then it has to start now on a war footing. I hope this flyover will be from Umshyrpi Bridge up to Barik Point. The flyover can be diverted through a shortcut behind the building of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police office before reaching the Anjalee petrol pump and the flyover will get a better alignment.
Yours etc.
N. Hynniewta
Via-email
Which party will Meghalaya vote for in 2024?
Editor,
Recently there was a narrative in the media by the political parties in Meghalaya regarding their strength based on the number of votes that the parties secured out of 100% of the share in votes in the last Meghalaya Legislative Assembly election 2023. A few days ago a State Party claimed that they garnered 34% of the votes in the 1 Shillong Parliamentary Constituency but as per the Index Cards data made available by the concerned Returning Officers on the basis of the Statutory data maintained in the forms as reflected on the portal of the Election Commission of India it indicates otherwise. Let us see what the data of the Election Commission of India says about the score of different National Parties, State Parties and Registered (unrecognized) Parties and how they fared in the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly Election 2023 particularly in 1 Shillong Parliamentary Constituency and the position of the parties after the merger of PDF on May 6, 2023 with the NPP.
Pre-merger the NPP 27.10 percent of the votes, followed by UDP 25.60%, INC 15.28%, VPP 8.62%, BJP 7%, HSPDP 5.65%, AITC 5.18%, PDF 2.98% and Independent 2.58%. Post merger of PDF with NPP on 6th May 2023 the position changed and now the NPP’s vote share is 30.08%, UDP 25.60%, INC 15.28%, VPP 8.62, BJP 7%, HSPDP 5.65%, AITC 5.18% and Independent 2.58%.
Since the data referred to above does not fully indicate which party is strong and which is weak. Therefore it is important to analyze another two sets of data namely the Forfeited Deposit and Strike rate of the parties in the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly in 2023. If we examine these sets of data minutely, we will observe that the Forfeited Deposit Rate of the three National Parties, namely, AITC, BJP, INC is 64, 71 and 64 percent respectively and that of the NPP is 11 percent. In the case of the State Parties like the HSPDP, PDF and UDP the FD Rate is 50, 66 and 49 percent respectively. In the case of Registered (Unrecognized) Parties like the GNC, RPI, RPI (A) and VPP the FD Rate is 50, 100, 100 and 61 percent respectively.
As for the Independents the FD Rate is 89 percent. The total FD rate in the last Assembly Election was 59 percent out of the total contestants of 369 in the Assembly Election of Meghalaya 2023. Now let us see the strike rate of the parties in the last Assembly Election. The strike rate of National Parties like AITC was 9%, BJP 3%, INC 8% and NPP 46% while that of the State Parties such as HSPDP, PDF and UDP was 20, 22 and 24 percent respectively. The strike rate of registered (unrecognized) Parties like VPP was 22 percent while that of the Independents was 5%. From the voting pattern of the last Meghalaya Assembly election it is observed that an overwhelming 67.75 % of the voters preferred the National Parties, followed by the State Parties 21.65%, Registered (Unrecognized) Parties 6.16, Independents 3.6% and NOTA 0.79%.
The election to the Lok Sabha 2024 is knocking at the door and given these sets of data it can be said that the voters in Meghalaya are intelligent and can judge in which party lies their strength as electors.
Yours etc
V.K.Lyngdoh,
Via email