SHILLONG, JULY 4: On expiry of the deadline, the High Level Committee (HLC) constituted by the state government has decided to give another month’s time to the residents of the Sweeper’s Colony at Them Iew Mawlong to furnish their documents before the Shillong Municipal Board (SMB).
The decision was taken at a meeting of the HLC chaired by the deputy chief minister Prestone Tynsong here on Thursday, in the presence of cabinet ministers Hamletson Dohling and Metbah Lyngdoh besides senior government officials of the different departments.
This was also following the order passed by the Meghalaya High Court on June 28, which has directed the residents of the area to cooperate with the inventorisation exercise undertaken by the state government by furnishing all requisite information to the authority concerned.
It may be mentioned here that the SMB had on May 31, served notices to over 300 households of the Sweeper’s Colony directing them to furnish documents before the board’s office within a month’s time, which has expired on July 3.
After the meeting, Tynsong, who is heading the committee, told reporters that the report received by the committee has informed that no one from the residents have turn up for producing their documents.
“However in view of the direction of the High Court, we from the state government feels that we need to give them (residents) another 30 days’ time to furnish all detail information to the Board,” he said.
The deputy chief minister informed that the Shillong Municipal Board has been entrusted to issue notices to all the residents of the area.
Asked what if they refused to comply with the notices, Tynsong said, “I can’t say whether they come or not it is up to them to decide but the High Court’s direction was very clear that the residents have to cooperate with the inventorisation progamme by the SMB.”
The Harijan Panchayat Committee (HPC), which is hell bent against the move of the state government to relocate the Sweeper’s Colony from Them Iew Mawlong, had in a statement issued on Wednesday decided to reject all the decisions of the HLC.
Terming the statement of the Tynsong, who have earlier asked the illegal residents to consider shifting on their own, as a “polite threat”, Billu Singh, headman of the Harijan Colony and leader of the HPC had said, “This is veiled polite threat and we reject it in toto. We will not be cowed down like this. We are citizens of the state for the last two centuries and we cannot be bullied. We have legitimate rights and we will contest for those rights.”
Reacting to this during the course of his press briefing, the deputy chief minister while expressing shocked said that it seems the residents have been staying in the area since Noah’s time if they claimed that they are there for over 200 years.
“Of course I have seen today that they have claimed that they have been there for 200 years. I am so shocked as for me now I am 53 years so if you talk of 200 years I don’t know from where did you get that 200 years may be (they are there) during Noah’s time,” Tynsong remarked.
On the other hand, he said it is good that they are claiming that they are there for 200 years adding “I think they do not have any problem in producing the documents so that is why 30 days’ time again is extended.”
Asked, Tynsong said that the government will do what is required on whether to inform the court if the residents do not comply with its direction in the upcoming hearing to be held next month.
According to him, notices will also be served to the chairman of the HPC and the legal counsels representing the parties from the colony.
The earlier notice by the SMB had stated that the object of collecting information as to the number of persons residing in Sweeper’s Colony and also their duration of occupation of stay is to prepare both long term and short term policy for resolving long pending issue pertaining to Sweeper’s Colony.
As per the inventory report submitted to the HLC, a total of 184 employees and their families have been identified as legal settlers. These include families of 128 employees of the SMB and 56 others who are working in the different government departments.
It may also be noted that the HLC has been tasked to find a feasible solution for the relocation of the Sweeper’s Colony from Them Iew Mawlong following the violent protest at Motphran last year.
By Our Reporter
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