State rejects land demand, insists on flats for Harijan Colony residents

Shillong, Sept 29: The government will  handover the blueprint for construction of multi-storey flats at the official quarters of the Shillong Municipal Board (SMB) to accommodate 342 families of Harijan Colony residents as part of relocation.

A meeting was held between the government and the Harijan Panchayat Committee delegation on Thursday to discuss the relocation of Harijan Colony residents.

The government has already rejected the  proposal of the HPC in April 25 this year that 200 square meters of land should  be provided to each of the 342 families within the European ward besides bearing the cost of construction of their homes.

Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong told reporters that the the government made a presentation of the blueprint indicating the detailed drawings and designs of the proposed buildings to be constructed for accommodating all the families.

“Tomorrow we have decided to handover the blueprint to the HPC, which has assured to immediately sit down among themselves and come back to the government with their decision after the Puja holiday,” Tynsong said, adding that the government is yet to know the stand of the HPC. “However, we will again meet them after the Puja holiday,” he said.

However, the HPC secretary Gurjit Singh is anguished over the government rejecting its eight-point resolution.

“The government has instead come up with its own blueprint. Therefore, we will first study the blueprint, we will go back to the people of our community to discuss and take a collective decision then we will come back to the government,” he said.

Answering a question, Singh said, “In our resolution, we had demanded 200 square meters of land for each of the 342 families but now the government is saying that it will construct multi-storey flats. However, I cannot decide alone on this, that is why collective decisions will be taken by the community.

The HPC will convene a meeting after the Puja holiday, he added.