Meghalaya investment law will ‘alienate tribal lands’

Shillong, Mar 13: The Meghalaya State Investment Promotion & Facilitation Act, 2024, will only help in concentrating power in the hands of a few and alienate tribals from their land, said Thma U Rangli-Juki (TUR) in a statement.

TUR has obtained documents in an RTI application regarding the Meghalaya Investment Promotion Authority (MIPA) that showed the government’s intention to bulldoze through a bill that will facilitate what gets invested in the state and who gets to invest unilaterally without appropriate oversight.

KSU has been protesting against the law and it wants the government to scrap it. 

MIPA violated the RTI process by delaying and trying to deny information. It finally had to disclose information after an order following a second appeal hearing at the State Information Commission.

After months of delay, in December 2024, TUR was granted access to inspect MIPA’s files, formerly known as Invest Meghalaya Authority. They had three files, copies of which we have obtained, including note sheets. All the RTI documents have been uploaded to hokmeghalaya.in for public view.

“How MIPA is functioning is shocking. TUR and the State Information Commission had difficulty locating the authority’s office. In the first instance, we only met with a group of clueless consultants in a room at the main secretariat who informed us that they were reporting to K Hynniewta of the Planning Department,” said TUR in a statement.

TUR also pointed out that MIPA was created from a law mooted in February 2024 and passed in March 2024 without a pre-legislative consultative process and minimal clause-by-clause discussion in the Assembly.

“The law is dangerous in letter and spirit. In the name of facilitating investment, it fosters the concentration of power in the hands of a few who will not only unilaterally decide the nature of investments but also alienate tribal lands for the same. Eighty per cent of the tribal population is landless, and this act will further exacerbate the situation,” TUR said.

MIPA has, unilaterally and in a non-transparent manner, made plans to “repurpose” land for projects in Shillong.

The copy of the minutes accessed by TUR showed appalling repurposing suggestions made by the authority, which include the widening of Bivar Road by destroying and reducing the land holding of Wards Lake.

This suggestion is anti-people in a town lacking open public spaces. The minutes also show the authority’s intention to take over the English service church located next to the old Legislative Assembly with zero regard for religious sentiments and the preservation of heritage buildings.

TUR condemned the government’s undemocratic and non-transparent practices that circumvent public accountability and oversight. It urged the government to initiate a broad consultation process which would allow civil society to participate in framing the rules of the act.