MDA Govt ready to engage in dialogue over land bank issue: CM

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaJanuary 23, 2025

Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said his government is ready to engage in dialogue with stakeholders on their concerns regarding its decision to create land banks for the promotion of investments in Meghalaya.

Reacting to the NGOs’ demand to drop the idea of land banks, Sangma on Wednesday said, “We are ready to engage and we are ready to talk to them but I am not saying I will fix a date that I am going to call them, no.”

“We are not the kind of government that will say no we have decided we are going ahead, we are not going to talk to anybody no. We are ready to talk to anybody who wishes to talk. Anybody who has concerns please come forward, we are ready to explain…,” he added.

Asserting the importance of understanding two things in regards to the issue, Sangma said, “Number one land banks have been created in the past also, it is nothing new that we are doing, the past governments are also doing it and we are continuing that process. The second thing is that for economic growth and for the creation of jobs, land banks are a must and therefore, without them we are not able to see the economic growth that we need. Balancing the two is important and we will ensure that we balance the concerns raised by the people yet look at the economic growth of the state. “

He further emphasized that land banks are important and said, “Because without land banks how do we grow. Therefore, the government has to acquire land and here the government is acquiring the land. After acquiring the land of course, we go for a long-term lease agreement where the lease is given to investors who are coming in.”

“Now it is a question of creating economic opportunities for us. As a state government if you are looking at job creation, if you are looking at economic growth, it cannot happen without private investment. So, to facilitate the entire process of private investments coming in, we need land banks, we need to facilitate the process of investment in our state. Therefore, there may be concerns and we are ready to discuss and address the concerns that are there but from the principles point of view without land banks, which as I said is something which has not happened in the past. In the past, many governments have come up with land banks and because of those land banks today we are getting large economic growth that is taking place.”

“So, it is necessary for the economic growth of the state and of course there are concerns like last time there were concerns that the land transfer act was being impacted because of investment promotion policies that we have created. We address those concerns and we explain to the people how our policies are not impacting those particular sectors,” he further stated.