SHILLONG: An inquiry into the construction of two 14-storeyed buildings for Brahmaputra Realtor Private Limited is in progress. The buildings are coming up at Raid Marwet in the State’s Ri Bhoi district but are registered in Assam.
The controversial issue was brought to the notice of the House by HSPDP’s Ardent Basaiawmoit during the question hour on Friday.
Chief Minister Mukul Sangma, while admitting the matter, said the Meghalaya Urban Development Authority (MUDA) had issued a direction to stop all construction activities and apply for the building byelaws. He added that the matter was under further inquiry by the Ri Bhoi deputy commissioner.
Raising a supplementary question, Basaiawmoit wanted to know whether the land transfer act was not applicable to the two buildings under construction.
He also wondered as to how the non-tribal entity could acquire land and on what ground MUDA was asking the developers to file application as per building byelaws. However, the Chief Minister said the application under building byelaws would enable the State government to scrutinise all relevant documents related to the ownership of the land. He admitted that in all probability, the authorities which were supposed to monitor the matter did not do so and hence the inquiry was ordered.
To a supplementary question by NPP’s James Sangma regarding the status of the inquiry, the Chief Minister said the matter was still under inquiry after information was provided to the deputy commissioner in August 2014.
