Shillong, Oct 2: Tura MDC Bernard Marak on Wednesday alleged that B Mahal land in Garo Hills is being sold to MTDC.
Full text of the letter
Dated Tura, 2nd October 2024
To
The Deputy Commissioner,
West Garo Hills, Meghalaya.
Sub : Seeking clarification on the half baked information you provided to the people.
Sir,
I would like to inform you that, I have the copies of the proceedings of the meetings
chaired by Shri Conrad K Sangma, Honourable Chief Minister of Meghalaya on 20th May 2022 at Circuit House regarding the B-Mahal land where Rakesh Sangma, Vijay Kumar, CEM and others attended.
The proceeding of the meeting revealed the ingredients to how a half baked cake
would be fully baked by the MTDC and MIDC. The conspiracy plotted against the people of Garo Hills over 5000 ha of land at B Mahal which would be sold to MTDC and MIDC is all real and your urgent order (Ref no: 59/2022/B-Mahal-LB/06) issued on 26th September 2024 directing four state officials to conduct joint survey of the land at B-Mahal area along with the revenue staff of GHADC connects the dots of the secret plot to sell the Garo people’s land. Your clarification on social media where you mentioned about land digitisation is misleading as State is not the implementing agency in this project but PMU (Project monitoring Unit). Sir, you should stop lying to the people as it only taints your chair and vows. I would still appreciate if you can apprise me under which section and provision of the law, you issued an order to conduct a joint survey of the scheduled lands of the Scheduled Tribes? And kindly apprise me,
who authorised you to conduct the survey of the B Mahal when the GHADC EM in-charge of
Land was unaware of it?
B-Mahal was merged with Garo Hills during the British time as there was frequent
conflict in those areas due to intrusion of the non tribals. After that, these lands were brought under the provision of the Sixth Schedule in the interests of the Hill Tribals which was handed over to GHADC to protect it from the intrusion of the non tribals including the state government. Inspite of that, State eyed these lands and the conspiracy was plotted with few GHADC MDCs. I was also informed that you even measured the lands in my area namely Walbakgre, Nikwatgre, Niksenggitim, Diringga, Leper colony, ITI and other areas without seeking permission from the Nokma and GHADC which is a gross violation of the Sixth Schedule
and deliberate attempt to violate the rights of the Hill Tribals. Sir, you being a non tribal may
not be well versed with the history of the Garos and the struggles our fore fathers put up against the non tribals in the past. I would like to inform you that, the history is not lost and the Agreement by the ANVC groups with the Centre and the State Government solely intended to bring history back to life and to protect the rights of the Garos. Your order violated the provisions of the Sixth Schedule Garo Hills over 5000 ha of land at B Mahal which would be sold to MTDC and MIDC is all real and your urgent order (Ref no: 59/2022 Schedule and for that, I want to call upon you and your officials to an open debate. I will not tolerate the violation of the “Law of the Land” by an outsider. You should first check if your residential quarter and your office premise have a valid land document. Your office did not pay the due fees to the nokmas for decades.
Lastly, I am not only the MDC of Tura but also the one who drafted and negotiated the
historical Agreed Text for Settlement (ATS) by the ANVC groups in 2014. Therefore, the
agreement which was signed to protect the tradition, culture, rights, practices and identity of the Garo people is on the verge of being trampled which I cannot allow as without land, Garos will have no identity. The survey of B-Mahal lands and Tura areas by you is not constitutional.
Our fathers died for these lands so we would not hesitate. So, stop all activities against our
lands and let our people be in peace. Let us (Me against Conrad Sangma, Rakesh Sangma, Vijay Kumar, CEM and you) debate on the secret B-Mahal deal and the land rights of the Hill people.
Anticipating your letter of acceptance,
Bernard N Marak,
MDC, Tura.
