Meghalaya HC asks Govt to resolve sweepers’ colony issue after polls

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaFebruary 28, 2023

The Meghalaya High Court has asked the state government to immediately resolve the matter related to the relocation of the residents of the Sweeper’s Colony from Them Iew Mawlong after the election.

“The State should make every endeavour, immediately after the election, to resolve the matter since it has been represented on behalf of the State on previous occasions that several parcels of land had been identified for the resettlement of the members of the first respondent body,” the Division Bench headed by Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee said in its order passed on February 16.

The bench said that the matter has been adjourned for a considerable period of time on the joint representation of the parties that an amicable settlement will be arrived at. The next hearing on the matter will be held on March 17.

In its previous order passed on October 21, last year, the Court had asked the Harijan Panchayat Committee (HPC) to respond to the proposal of the state government for relocation of 342 families of Sweepers’ Colony from Them Iew Mawlong within four weeks’ time. 

On September 29, last year the state government had presented the blueprint to the HPC during a meeting, which indicated its decision to construct multi-storey flats at the existing official quarters of the Shillong Municipal Board (SMB) for relocation of the 342 families.

The state government had outrightly rejected the April 25,2022-proposal of the HPC that 200 square meters of land be provided to each of the 342 families within the European ward besides bearing the cost of construction of their homes.

After the meeting, HPC secretary Gurjit Singh had expressed concern that the government had rejected its 8-points resolution.

“The government has instead come up with its own blueprint. Therefore, we will first study the blueprint, we will go back to the people of our community to discuss and take a collective decision then we will come back to the government,” he had said.