Govt ready to talk to HPC leaders over Sweepers’ Colony issue: CM

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaNovember 1, 2021

Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Monday said the Sweepers’ Colony issue will be resolved in a phase-wise manner even as he assured that the government is ready to talk to the leaders of the Harijan Panchayat Committee, which is opposing the move to relocate the residents of the colony from Them Iew Mawlong.

“We will resolve this in a phase-wise manner taking one section at a time as that is the way to resolve such a complicated issue,” Sangma said while responding to a query as to when the government is relocating the Sweeper’s Colony since it has recently taken over the land at Them Iew Mawlong.

He told reporters that with the completion of the first phase which related to land ownership, the second phase will be the shifting of the Shillong Municipal Board (SMB)’s office from the quarters.

He added that the third phase will be the complete shifting of the government employees working in municipal or other departments to the designated locations, which are “very good”.

“Finally, we will go into the phase where we will find in an amicable manner in which we will be able to ask the others or relocate the other people but that is a process we will see and move to as it goes along,” Sangma said.

According to him, the government’s decision to move in this manner was based on the decisions of the High Powered Committee.

When asked, Sangma said that the process of shifting the SMB office has already started even as he informed that over 40 families who are employees of government departments have already shifted. He said the process of others moving will also start very soon.

On the HPC rejecting the government’s taking over the land at Them Iew Mawlong, the Chief Minister however said everything has to be moved in a legal manner as nobody can go above the law.

Stating that the HPC leaders are emotionally charged and are giving statements on the issue, Sangma assured, “We are ready to talk to them. We are ready to discuss with them and find in an amicable way and resolve this issue. We are very clear as I said we need to find a solution to this as it has been pending for too long.”

He also claimed that  this is the first time in the history of the state that a government has taken a very strong  step and a concrete step towards resolving such a very long pending issue.

“It is not easy but we are committed to resolving this and we will carry everybody along, we will talk to the people,” he further assured.

On the other hand, the Chief Minister maintained that overall, people residing in the Sweepers’ Colony are not thinking in the same line. He also said that the land now totally belongs to the state government “Absolutely the ownership of the land has been taken by the government as a tripartite agreement,” he stated.