SHILLONG, Jan 22: Stoutly defending the need for land banks to ensure economic growth of the state and creation of jobs, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Wednesday invited critics of the Meghalaya State Investment Promotion & Facilitation Act, 2024 for dialogue on the contentious issue.
“We are ready to talk to anybody who wishes to talk but you have to understand two things – land banks have been created in the past also; it is nothing new that we are doing. The previous governments and agencies have done that and we are continuing that process. The second thing is that for economic growth and creation of jobs, land banks are a must and without that we won’t be able to witness the economic growth that we need,” Sangma said.
Stating that balancing the two is crucial, he said, “We have just opened it and we are asking if anybody is willing to sell land to the government. We have had some response, some of which are positive while others are neutral.”
He made it clear that the government will proceed with land acquisition only after it gets a positive response from the people.
“We will be focussing on clean sustainable industries like tourism, agro processing, service sector like education, and IT,” he stated.
Reacting to the fear of losing out on the land as it is scarce, the CM said, “That is why we have been working towards it and that is why touching the Land Transfer Act does not arise. The case of simply allowing anybody to come and buy the land does not arise.”
“We will ensure that the land which are owned by our people and community are always protected but while we do that we need to also see that jobs are created and economic development takes place,” he added.
He also asserted that the land will be owned by the government and would be leased out. “Without investment we will not be able to create jobs that we require for our youngsters; so it is a choice that we have to make,” he said.
“We can clearly balance things out by ensuring that we protect our land and ensuring that the Land Transfer Act is not violated in any way and at the same time providing a small room for investors to make investments,” he added.
