Court to decide on relocation from Sweepers’ Colony

Deputy Chief Minister in-charge Urban Affairs Sniawbhalang Dhar has informed that the state government has filed an affidavit before the Meghalaya High Court with regards to the proposal for relocating the 342 families of Sweepers’ Colony from Them Iew Mawlong.
Dhar told reporters today that now the matter is left to the court to decide.

The minister said that the government will also sit in a few days and take a call on the matter.

According to him, this was after 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).

Dhar however said that the government will always welcome the HPC if they want to discuss the matter.

On April 24, the Meghalaya High Court had deferred the hearing on the issue to June 7.

The order was passed by the division bench based on the request made by the state government and the HPC during the hearing held here.
The government had come up with a blueprint after rejecting the April 25,2022-proposal of the HPC that 200 square meters of land be provided to each of the 342 families within the European ward besides bearing the cost of construction of their homes.

In its recent 6-page reply sent to the Deputy Secretary of the Government of Meghalaya and other concerned departments, the HPC had alleged that the government’s proposal was “incomplete, unsuitable, unprepared, unfair and undemocratic.”

The HPC had also stated in its reply that “There are serious lacunae, sweeping and undesirable conclusions in the approach and attitude of the High-Level Committee of the Meghalaya government.”

“We are absolutely devastated that since the formation of the new government, ministers, MLAs and certain groups have been making unnecessary remarks saying that the whole issue would be resolved within the month of April. What magical trick do they have up their sleeve to resolve the issue within days? The matter is sub-judice and they are only paying lip service to respect for the judiciary. We will not buckle under political duress,” it had also added.

SDRF recovers mortal remains of landslide victim

The State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) recovered the body of the last victim of the landslide tragedy at Ryngngain in East Khasi Hills District on Sunday.

The body identified as that of late Krejunlang Khongjirem was trapped under the rubble of rocks and soil following the landslip incident which occurred last Friday.

The SDRF were pressed into action following a call from District police on Friday evening about the landslip incident at Ryngngain. On reaching the spot they were informed that 9 occupants who were sitting in the passenger vehicle had sustained minor injuries and were taken to Pynursla PHC.

However, another vehicle with 2 (two) occupants inside was knocked down off the road and had fallen into a deep gorge.

SDRF personnel were first able to recover the body of late Seiborlang Jaktung, the driver of the vehicle, in the afternoon of 15 April 2023 and with the help of local villagers they were able to bring back the body at around 2100 Hrs approximately and handed over the body to the police.

Two teams of SDRF personnel were deployed for the recovery operation at Ryngngain East Khasi Hills from the force headquarters at Mawdiangdiang.

The SDRF personnel worked in close cooperation with the local residents at Ryngngain to recover the bodies of the occupants of the second vehicle.

The recovery operation of the SDRF ended with the recovery of the second victim on Sunday.