SHILLONG, MAY 15: Deputy Chief Minister in charge of Urban Affairs, Sniawbhalang Dhar, informed reporters on Monday last that a meeting of the department will be convened next week to discuss the proposed relocation of the Sweepers’ Colony from Them Ïew Mawlong.
“Next week, we will have to meet again since we haven’t received any order from the court on the matter till now,” Dhar told reporters at his office chamber.
He, however, said there was nothing to worry about as the government would take its own course of action. He was referring to what he had categorically said last week that the government could not accept the Harijan Panchayat Committee (HPC) proposal.
“Frankly speaking,” he told reporters, “their (HPC) demand is too high. Since they have gone to court, we will have to wait for the court’s verdict.”
The HPC had demanded that 200 square meters of land be provided to each of the 342 families within the European ward besides bearing the cost of home construction.
The government had proposed its own blueprint earlier after rejecting the HPC proposal submitted in April last year. Its counter-proposal was to relocate the 342 families from Sweepers’ Colony at Them Ïew Mawlong to the existing plot of the Shillong Municipal Board (SMB).
The HPC, on its part, had also rejected the proposal recently in its reply submitted to the government.
But the deputy chief minister reiterated that his government would not change its stand and was firm on relocating the Sweepers’ Colony to the existing SMB land.
