Govt referred Harijan colony issue to legal expert: Meghalaya Dy CM

The move comes in the wake of the Harijan Panchayat Committee (HPC) rejecting the relocation proposal (blueprint) of the government on Thursday

Meghalaya Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong on Tuesday said that the government is determined in its stand on the relocation of the Harijan colony and has referred the current status of the issue to a legal expert to study threadbare.

“Right now we already referred to the legal expert to study everything and once it is done, I will take a call on that,” Pretone Tynsong said.

DCM Tynsong also stated, “From day one, when I was the chairman of the committee, the government had already accepted the recommendation made by the committee under my chairmanship, and the approval of the cabinet was also accorded that re-location has to take place.”

The move comes in the wake of the Harijan Panchayat Committee (HPC) rejecting the relocation proposal (blueprint) of the government on Thursday, describing it as “incomplete, unsuitable, unprepared, unfair, and undemocratic.”

On September 29, 2022, the Meghalaya government made a presentation of the blueprint indicating the detailed drawings and designs of the proposed buildings to be constructed for accommodating the 342 families of Harijan Colony. The presentation was also made before the Harijan Panchayat Committee (HPC).

The government had also decided to hand over the blueprint for the construction of multi-story flats at the existing official quarters of the Shillong Municipal Board (SMB) to the HPC.

On October 21, the Meghalaya High Court asked the HPC to respond to the proposal of the state government within four weeks’ time.

In April last year, the HPC demanded that 200 square meters of land be provided to each of the 342 families, which was outrightly rejected by the state government.

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