GHADC handed over land ownership rights of Reserve Gittim to 100 families

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaNovember 11, 2022

In a historic event the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) transferred Land Ownership rights of Reserve Gittim village in West Garo Hills to tribal families.

A ‘Thanksgiving’ Ceremony organized by the villagers where Chief Minister, Conrad K Sangma handed over ‘Land Patta’ to 100 tribal households in the presence of Swapnil Tembe, DC, West Garo Hills & Rikse R Marak, CEO, Tura Development Board and other dignitaries.

Unlike other parts of India, Meghalaya did not have clear land titles. This was due to unique agrarian systems (Shifting Jhum Agriculture) and distinctive social structure. After the reorganization of States and award of Statehood to Meghalaya in 1972, tribals of various parts of Meghalaya have been requesting recognition of their rights over the land.

This was considering the rise of modern agriculture, which demanded clear demarcation of land and its ownership. The absence of Land Records and formal documentation further posed a challenge in identifying the rightful owners.

On 19th August 2018, a memorandum was presented to Chief Minister Conrad Sangma requesting him to resolve the challenge faced by people. The task was immediately actioned and all legal hurdles despite the Covid 19 Pandemic were overcome, achieving the much-needed demarcation.

The CEM is all set to award more than 100 land Pattas to tribal beneficiaries who are the rightful owners in recognition of their long-standing demand for rights over the land.

Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said, “Right over land is key to the tribal identity of our people. Hence the transfer of Land Rights to the rightful owners is one of our topmost agendas. In the past four and a half years of our tenure, we have done everything to help the people of Reserve Gittim, we have made legal provisions to award legal rights over land to the tribal people of Meghalaya. Going ahead we plan to help tribal people across the state who are facing similar challenges.”

Swapnil Tembe, DC, WGH further added, “Settlement process is very important. For every application, bank application, loan application, certificate application, land document is important, so land settlement process is important. There are other areas as such in Tura and the District administration revenue branch is surveying about the problems, enforcement staff, DC revenue staff have been instructed to survey and he thanked the CM for all these.”

To resolve many problems being faced by the residents of the area different departments such as water, electricity will coordinate with each other

Sharon D Sangma said, “In 2018 the CEM started investigation into the matter since they came across many problems because people did not have land pattas, they could not connect pipelines, electricity and could not apply for Caste certificates.”

Another beneficiary Remsoni Ch Marak added, “When we went to offices for loans, we were asked if we have pattas and when we could not provide one, we were told we could not apply for big loans. Now that we have got the pattas we are grateful to everyone.”