Shillong, Apr 29: The HYC wanted the state government to relocate only 194 Harijan Colony residents and not 342.
The HYC president Roy Kupar Synrem told reporters on Monday that as per replies to RTI queries received from the office of the Shillong Municipal Board, out of 342 families who are the residents of the Iew Mawlong, there are 148 families who are not employees of the Shillong Municipal Board (SMB) or any other government departments and only 194 families are employees of SMB and other offices of the government.
Synrem said most of the employees of the SMB are either part-time or daily-wage sweepers. Most of them have been appointed without any advertisements and some of the employees have expired but the family members are residing there.
“Firstly, we reiterate our views and opinions as communicated to you earlier that the 194 families residing at Them Iew Mawlong, whose members are either the employees of SMB or other government departments maybe provided with government quarters and can occupy the same till such time they are serving as employees of the state government and in the absence of such quarters, the same law which applies to other government employees serving in different parts of the state should also be applied to these people i.e. giving of house rent allowance and no special treatment should be allowed/given to them whatsoever”, the HYC said. If the government decides to provide free land and free house to these people, we feel that all the government employees will make similar demands in the future and this will create a big burden to the state government and the people of Meghalaya who actually pay and contribute to the state exchequer”,
Secondly, Synrem said besides the employees of SMB and other government departments, the rest of the settlers i.e. the 148 families who are not working under the government of Meghalaya and are residing at Them Iew Mawlong, have no right whatsoever to make demands for quarter/dwelling units from the government.
“So the question of relocating these people does not even arise, forget about providing free land and free houses. They should be evicted from the area or premises as per the provisions of law. Any wrong decision of the state government in this regard will create a bad precedent in the future as each and every landless citizen (which are in huge numbers) of the state will start to occupy government land”, Synrem said.
The HYC leader said as per the replies to RTI queries, it is seen that most of these employees of the SMB have been appointed without following due procedures i.e. calling of advertisements. “Many youths from the Hynniewtrep community are also able to do the jobs that these people are presently serving. Therefore, necessary directions be given to SMB to call for advertisements and/or appoint the local indigenous youths to such posts as and when the posts are vacant.
“Based on the above facts and circumstances, we therefore demand that the state government should provide quarters (dwelling units) to only 194 families who are employees of the state government and not to provide any benefits to the 148 families who are not employees of the state government but rather take necessary actions as per the relevant laws for eviction; call for advertisements for various vacant posts of sweepers and other part-time/daily wage jobs in the SMB from now onwards without giving/providing special treatments to the residents of Them Iew Mawlong”, he added.
