SHILLONG: South Shillong Legislator Sanbor Shullai has sought the intervention of Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on the problems being faced by the residents of Shillong Cantonment Board.
In a letter addressed to the Union Defence Minister on Sunday, Shullai said that the Meghalaya Building Bye-Law has been framed with Floor Area Ratio (F.A.R) whereas the Building Bye-Laws of the Shillong Cantonment Board is framed with Floor Space Index (F.S.I) which has been causing extreme difficulty to the residents of the Shillong Cantonment Board which falls under his constituency. He said that the residents are not being allowed to construct houses sufficiently to accommodate their increasing family members, which has increased manifold since 1937 when most of the leases were granted and at that point of time the population was not so large but the present scenario has changed.
The legislator urged the Union Minister to convert the F.S.I in the civil area of Shillong Cantonment Board to F.A.R. “This is very important as Shillong is a hilly station and there is no scope of expansion”, he said.
According to the legislator, he is unable to recommend any scheme as the Cantonment Board unlike the local municipality is not an implementation agency and hence the residents are deprived of many social schemes which could have benefitted the Cantonment residents.
“It is therefore requested that such scheme and laws may be framed where the MLAs / MPs may be allowed to implement the scheme as done in other local localities, as the Shillong Cantonment Borad does not allow the implementation of MLA scheme but requests that the scheme amount be deposited to the Board which is against the laws”, the legislator said.
The Shillong Cantonment Lease Holder’s Association (SCLHA) in the letter dated March 19 addressed to Shullai had alleged that many lessees have applied for conversion of their lease into free-hold, but the same is pending for many years.
It has further been alleged by the SCLHA that as there is a huge increase in the population of the Shillong Cantonment in the last many years, and on the pretext of change of purpose and breach of lease, the SCB is in the process of sending many more leases for termination, which can certainly be avoided if the lessees are given the option to convert their leases into partly commercial and partly residential, as this will also increase the revenue of the Shillong Cantonment Board which he believes is a deficit Board.
“This will certainly be a win-win situation for the Board as well as the residents”, he added.
The SCLHA has also pointed out that there exists certain provision in the Cantonment Act, 2006 where fine can be imposed and unauthorised constructions be regularised, hence the same can be opted instead of demolition of buildings which the residents had to construct to accommodate their families.
