Shillong, April 26: Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong has said the government is not averse to fighting the case in the court if the demands of the Harijan Panchayat Panchayat Committee are not acceptable.The Harijan panel had demanded 10 acres of land in European ward in exchange of the current land at Harijan Colony. Moreover, they wanted the government to construct the houses.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong said the government is preparing a blueprint of the proposal to relocate all 342 households to its revenue land.
“This is a genuine case that is why we are so open but of course if your demand is for heaven, maybe it is beyond our consideration,” he said.
“We will prepare the blueprint and send it to them . If they reject means we have to meet in the court. If they reject the packages offered by us, then we can’t help it. We will have to fight and ultimately let the court decide,” Tynsong said.
To a question, Tynsong said anybody can ask anything. “But I already clearly told them see there are issues which are not at all possible which are not at all feasible, not at all justified, not at all possible humanly speaking or from the government point of view. They wanted to see again the blueprint of the government, what was our plan for relocation of the entire place of that area. Therefore, I told them that the urban affairs will prepare everything and then we will send it to them, after that let them sit and come back for a meeting,” he said.
“Therefore, we are considerate and we are still working out. They are our brothers and sisters and we want to take care of them,” he said.
Tynsong said the package is only for 342 families and not beyond that.
Tynsong wanted the people not to forget the contribution of the Harijans.
The deputy chief minister said, “Please don’t forget the biggest contributions made by these people. That time when we say we don’t have septic tanks, we had only service latrines, who were there to clean everything. So we need also to respect, we need also to appreciate the contributions made by these people.”
Adelbert against demand of committee
Local MLA Adelbert Nongrum rejected the demand of the Harijan Panchayat Committee to provide ten acres of land.
Addressing a press conference, Adelbert said that since majority of the residents are illegal settlers, there is no logic in looking into the demands of the committee.
He also pointed out that as local MLA, he should have been involved in the process of discussion which was not done by the government.
