The war of words between the residents of Sweepers’ Colony and the state Government continues as Deputy Chief Minister Sniawbhalang Dhar has outrightly rejected the demand of Harijan Panchayat Committee (HPC) and said the matter is left to the court to decide.
Speaking to reporters, Dhar said the state government has filed an affidavit on the proposal to relocate the Sweepers’ Colony from Them Iew Mawlong.
“Their (HPC) points are not accepted by us. Its not acceptable,” Dhar said.
The minister said that the government will also sit in a few days and take a call on the matter.
Asked, he said, “We have already planned clearly that we are going to give them (residents of Sweepers’ Colony) a place which is under the European ward as requested by them.”
“ Let them accept the proposal of the Government first and then we will construct,” he added.
Earlier, the Harijan Panchayat Committee (HPC) had rejected the government’s proposal to relocate the Sweepers’ Colony from Them Iew Mawlong to the existing land of the Shillong Municipal Board (SMB). The HPC is demanding a 200 square metre plot of land for each family besides Rs 20 lakh per unit.
In a hard-hitting reply, sent to the Government of Meghalaya’s blueprint for relocation of residents of Punjabi Lane, Shillong, the Harijan Panchayat Committee after multiple rounds of consultation with its members, has stated that the proposal of the government was “incomplete, unsuitable, unprepared, unfair and undemocratic.”