HPC calls govt blueprint ‘unacceptable’

In a hard-hitting reply, sent today 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.”

In an exhaustive 6-page reply sent to the Deputy Secretary of the Government of Meghalaya and to other concerned departments, the HPC letter reads, “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.”

“We have attended meetings of the government in good faith but the government is resorting to misinformation and disinformation through the media and at the meetings, the only attitude is to overawe us into submission to their proposal. The language of the political leadership is one of intimidation. They are putting our lives and properties at risk and making us vulnerable,” said HPC secretary Gurjit Singh.

The HPC has strongly alleged that the “entire exercise is an ill-founded relocation theory, which actually compels the resident citizens of the Punjabi Lane (Harijan Colony) to forego their rights, title and interest over whatever small land portion in the colony and to accept the prisons cells like accommodation being offered in the proposed Blueprint.”

Speaking to the media, HPC secretary Gurjit Singh reiterated that, “our original demands presented in the “Eight-point resolution” still stand and we will not buckle under political duress merely because it is convenient for the government to do so and simply because due to passage of time, the land has become a commercial goldmine.”

The Harijan Panchayat Committee which, despite all odds, has been spearheading a battle for rights of the residents since the last three decades, has in its detailed reply to the government said that the disputed land belongs to the Syiem of Mylliem, and not to the government and any attempt by the government to buy it is violative of the Meghalaya Land Transfer Act.

With reference to the recent incident of 31 May 2018, the HPC has stated that “taking advantage of a stray case of discord, suddenly the “relocation theory” was resurfaced for political and vested interests. We have all the official documentation necessary to live as citizens at our ancestral land in Punjabi Lane.

The letter pointed out gaping holes in the government’s blueprint -area too small and proposed houses pigeonholes, official building guidelines violated, no roadmap of demolition of present structures, no public amenities and last but not the least no specification of title to the land and the houses.

“There are so many grey areas and gaps. The government must clarify about all such concerns and only then it can be taken up for consideration by the Harijan Panchayat Committee, without prejudice to our right to reject the proposal” stated Gurjit Singh while speaking to media personnel.

Deriding the government’s haste, the HPC remarked, “It has been held by the Supreme Court of India and other courts as well that the right to lead a dignified life is an inalienable right and provisions of housing cannot be such that it is inhabitable for residents to live there. In the light of such judicial pronouncements, the residents are entitled to a better resolution.”

In an earnest appeal to the government and people of Meghalaya, Gurjit Singh said, “the government must stop the witch hunt and allow us to build our houses and we can assure that the beauty of the area will be fully maintained and for this the residents have the full support of the Sikh community.”

“The residents of Punjabi Lane want to live with honour and dignity at the land of their forefathers and it would be improper to treat them as aliens. The solution to this should be peaceful, amicable, mutual and permanent, without trampling on our fundamental rights,” he added.

State Reservation Policy: Blunder of 50 yrs cannot be solved in days

United Democratic Party leader and cabinet minister Paul Lyngdoh today said a solution to a blunder committed in regard to the state reservation policy for the past 50 years cannot come in a matter of five days.

“It is also a fact that a blunder was committed 50 years ago so how do you resolve that? It is more difficult because it is an issue that has been festering for half a century so a solution will not come in five days. A blunder that has been perpetuated for 50 years cannot be resolved in five days in five weeks or even five months but let it be resolved bit by bit,” Lyngdoh told reporters.

The West Shillong legislator said, “Why are you saying that it is not a blunder. There are a lot of errors in the entire policy. For instance, giving space of two-three years for a post to be filled up means you are undermining, and compromising the quality of the administration. Now if an office has to have 12 staff members and because you have to wait for two years it means that the office is running short of staff for 2-3 years – that itself is a blunder.”

Admitting the danger if the reservation policy is being challenged, he said, “It is (dangerous) as there are a lot of intricacies involved,” while cautioning everyone that “we should not end up shooting ourselves in our leg, let us not inflict self-wounds.”

On the implementation of the roster system, Lyngdoh, who is also a spokesperson of the MDA government, informed that the MDA is going to meet at the end of this week or early next week to discuss this matter.

“The matter is also coming up before the cabinet and an All-party meet is also being called. So at these different platforms, we will get an exchange of views and I am sure the best of views will come forward,” he asserted.

Referring to the concerns expressed if the roster system is implemented retrospectively, Lyngdoh said, “That is a very valid concern so accordingly I will put my views across in the Cabinet that if at all  it has to be done it can be done only prospectively one, two you can take the matter up to the Supreme Court, three, the State Assembly has the option of legislation – so which of these options or which combination of these options will work best that is entirely up to the House and the Cabinet to decide.”

“Therefore, let it come up before the cabinet. Let a cabinet memo be prepared. I will study the memo and articulate my point of view in the cabinet but first let the cabinet memo be put up,” he stated.

On the other hand, Lyngdoh reminded that the UDP had in fact listed as number one on its manifesto a change of the reservation policy and said, “We fielded 46 candidates and only 11 of us won. Even if you only think of the Khasi-Jaintia sector, we won 11 out of 36, minus the 10 we fielded in the Garo Hills, so it means that the majority of the constituencies are not interested in any change of the reservation policy.”

He said it also means that 25 constituencies did not favour a change of the reservation policy adding “Even if you combine UDP 11 plus VPP 4 that will still make it 15 and 15 out of 36 is still not a majority.”

Percentage allocated should not be touched: FKJGP

President of the Federation of Khasi Jaintia & Garo people (FKJGP) Dundee Khongsit said that the percentage allocated to the Khasi-Jaintia and Garo categories should not be touched.

Speaking to media persons, Khongsit said that it is a fact that Meghalaya is very fortunate as Tribal communities enjoy 80 per cent in job reservations since as per the central law, no community can exceed 50 per cent in any reservation.

Khongsit said that everyone understands that this is a very sensitive issue and it will be better if the state reservation policy is left as it is or else the state might even lose out on the 80 per cent job reservation.

“As per my understanding according to the central law, no community can exceed 50 per cent when it comes to job reservation, so yes we are in fact fortunate that 80 per cent was allocated to the Tribals, so it is better if we don’t make any changes or else we might lose out on that 80 per cent,” said Khongsit.

On the other hand, Khongsit said that the FKJGP endorsed the demand that the roster system should be implemented prospectively from the date that the state government came up with an office memorandum on May 10, 2022.

Khongsit said that the federation is happy with the directive of the Meghalaya High Court which suggested that it is now left to the state government to decide on the cut-off date for the implementation of the roster system.

Cabinet to discuss implementation of roster system

The National People’s Party-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance-2 government has decided to discuss and take a call on the issue related to the implementation of the roster system in the upcoming meeting of the state Cabinet.

This came after the demand for calling a special session of the State Assembly to discuss the issue pertaining to the roster system and the state reservation policy following a recent order passed by the Meghalaya High Court.

Speaking to media persons, Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong said that he does not see any need to have a special session to discuss the issue.

“However, I am not saying that right now. When Chief Minister is back in Shillong, we are planning to have an all-party meeting, we would (also like to have an MDA meeting but first of all we will have a detailed discussion in the cabinet and then ultimately we will take a decision maybe we can also call an all-party meeting where we can share and discuss everything with all the political parties,” he said.

Tynsong said, “Well that is a very long story. Let me just tell you one thing, we already filed the affidavit three times and that time the Meghalaya High Court (in its earlier order) says you have to do the roster system right from 1972. They clearly said it should be right from the inception of the reservation policy which means that we have to go back from 1972.”

“But in view of the latest ruling of the High Court, we will again sit down, we will discuss in the Cabinet, we will discuss in the MDA and thereafter we can even call the all-party meeting,” he added.

On the demand of the NGOs that the roster system should not be implemented right from 1972, the deputy chief minister said, “It should not be retrospective. That is true. Even from the government side last year, we already filed affidavits two-three times, we requested the High Court if possible let us make it prospective. From the day the ruling came in we would like to have that roster system also to be in place from that time itself.”

With regards to the demand for reviewing the state reservation policy, Tynsong however said, “We will take up (the issues) one by one. As of now, I think the issue is about the roster system so the government has taken note of this, we will discuss it in the Cabinet and we will discuss it with the MDA partners as well as if necessary we will call the all-party meeting.”