SHILLONG, March 12: The Thma U Rangli-Juki (TUR) on Wednesday accused the state government of attempting to bulldoze people through the Meghalaya Investment Promotion Authority (MIPA).
In a statement, the organisation said it has obtained documents by filing an RTI application, which showed the government’s intention to bulldoze people through a bill that will facilitate what gets invested in the state and who gets to invest unilaterally without appropriate oversight.
According to TUR, the authority violated the RTI process by delaying and trying to deny information. The organisation said information was shared only after an order was issued following a second appeal hearing at the State Information Commission.
“After months of delay, in December 2024, TUR was granted access to inspect MIPA’s files, formerly known as Invest Meghalaya Authority. They had three files, copies of which we have obtained, including note sheets. All the RTI documents have been uploaded on hokmeghalaya.in for public view,” TUR said.
Terming the functioning of MIPA as shocking, the organisation claimed that it and the State Information Commission had difficulty locating the office of the authority.
“In the first instance, we only met with a group of clueless consultants in a room at the main secretariat who informed us that they were reporting to K Hynniewta of the Planning Department,” the statement said, adding that the manner in which MIPA was formed is also shocking and disheartening.
According to TUR, the authority was created from a law mooted in February 2024 and passed in March 2024 without a pre-legislative consultative process and minimal clause-by-clause discussion in the Assembly.
“The law is dangerous in letter and spirit. In the name of facilitating investment, it fosters the concentration of power in the hands of a few who will not only unilaterally decide the nature of investments but also alienate tribal lands for the same. Eighty per cent of the tribal population is landless, and this Act will further exacerbate the situation,” the statement said.
“While this Act poses an imminent threat to the Land Transfer Act despite the recent amendments, its menace lies in its facilitation for the local powerful elites to further hoard and accumulate wealth at the expense of the people. The ramifications of this will be a deepening inequality which dispossesses people, pushing them into poverty and insecurity,” the statement further stated.
TUR also said that MIPA has unilaterally and in a non-transparent manner made plans to “repurpose” land for projects in Shillong, adding that the copy of the minutes that it accessed showed appalling repurposing suggestions made by the authority, which include the widening of Bivar Road by destroying and reducing the landholding of Wards Lake.
“This suggestion is anti-people in a town lacking open public spaces. The minutes also show the authority’s intention to take over the English Service Church located next to the old Legislative Assembly with zero regard for religious sentiments and the preservation of heritage buildings.
“In the name of ‘ease of doing business’ and chasing the dream of a $10 billion economy, the government is pushing for rapid investment in known and unknown planned projects through MIPA,” TUR said, warning that without strict due diligence and considering sustainability and environmental threats, this could be disastrous for the state’s deteriorating environment.
Condemning the government’s alleged undemocratic and non-transparent practices that circumvent public accountability and oversight, TUR urged the government to initiate a broad consultation process that would allow civil society to participate in framing the rules of the Act.
