Govt ready to shift 342 families of Sweeper’s Colony to revenue land

This was informed by the Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong after chairing a meeting with the delegation of the Harijan Panchayat Committee (HPC) for the second time.

Tynsong told reporters that the HPC has agreed for relocation based on certain conditions.

“They (HPC) wanted that all 342 households, who have already been inventorized way back in 2008, to be shifted to one location which should be within the government revenue land, which we have agreed,” he said while adding “Once the unit is constructed whether they will be able to own that unit generation to generation is also one of the issues where they wanted to get the detail from the government side.”

Tynsong said accordingly, the state government has decided to prepare a blueprint of the proposal.

“Once that is done, we will communicate officially to them and once that is done they will sit down again with their residents and take a final decision on the matter,” he informed.

Stating that the next meeting is likely to be held before May 15, the deputy chief minister said, “The urban affairs department has been asked to speed up the detail proposal. Once it is being submitted to them, then  the next meeting will be held and we will take a final call on that.”

Asked about the alternative site for relocation, he said that the government is yet to finalise on the matter. “Of course, we have identified not less than two-three places. However, we will be able to tell you exactly once the urban affairs department is done with all the details of the proposal.”

“We have already asked the urban affairs department to speed up this issue…I think it will not take much time may be on or before May 15,” he added.

Meanwhile, the deputy chief minister said the case pending before the Meghalaya High Court will be closed once the matter is resolved.

“This is the second meeting held on the basis of the High Court order. We will continue to do that till we reach to a conclusion. Once the government as well as the HPC are agreeable then we will jointly filed affidavit to the High Court to close down the case,” he added.

By Our Reporter