KHADC slams Ri Bhoi district admin for closing down its toll gate at Umdihar, terms action as ‘insulting’
The Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) on Tuesday slammed the district administration of Ri Bhoi for closing down its toll gate at Umdihar village without any notice.
Terming the action as “insulting” the council’s authority, spokesperson of the Voice of the People Party (VPP)-led executive committee (EC) Powell Sohkhlet said, “We have toll gates in the different districts falling under the council’s jurisdiction and there were not facing any problems in the previous years. Only now that the VPP has taken over the EC in the KHADC, this issue is coming up.”
“This also reflects the fact that the district administration is treating the KHADC like NGOs or gundas, who are illegally extorting money,” he said adding “We are surprised as the moment we operationalised the gate (after renewal), it was immediately shut down. I highly suspected that there is something behind the action taken by the district administration. We also do not appreciate the attitude of the magistrate on duty. It was highly unacceptable because we are an elected body, we are not running an NGO or a gang here. Sad to say that it seems the district administration is treating us like second class citizens or law breakers. Therefore, I strongly condemn the action of the district administration.”
According to him, the toll collected by the KHADC is as per provisions of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution of India.
The KHADC toll gate at Umdihar was closed down on May 16, a day after it was made operational.
Executive member in-charge Trade Winston Tony Lyngdoh said that the gate allotted to one Pyndaplang Diengdoh is one among the 11 toll gates set up by the KHADC in the different districts for the past many years.
“The gate is not illegal. We have issued proper work order after lessee has obtained no objection certificate (NOC) from the dorbar shnong, the copies of which have been forwarded to the Ri Bhoi deputy commissioner (DC) and superintendent of police (SP), who did not objected but in fact were deploying police security on May 15, when the toll gate started its operation. Proper receipts were issued for every toll collected,” he said.
“Till this very moment, I am still waiting for an official communication from the district administration of Ri Bhoi before we take a decision on the matter. If the district administration thinks that the gates are illegal, write to us as we are not here to break the law,” Lyngdoh added.
The EM informed that out of 11 toll gates, only 7-8 are operational. “Three gates have been closed down (following complaints from the public). We have sent our staff to inspect the other toll gates and we will decide if they are still feasible or not,” he said, adding that the council is ready to work with the government.
Further, Lyngdoh said that he cannot clarify on whether the KHADC has written or not to the ministry of home affairs (MHA) seeking permission for setting up of toll gates adding “but we have followed all procedures as per law. Toll gates by the KHADC have been in existence for the past many years.”
Adding to this, Sohkhlet said the KHADC had only renewed the work orders for leasing the toll gates.
“If there is such a thing (that we need permission of the MHA), the state government should have communicated to the district council. But as per our record, there is no such communication received from the state government. Therefore, we take it that all these gates are legal and we continue to operate them as was done by the previous ECs,” he stated.
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