Shillong: The Meghalaya government would soon hold a meeting with the Harijan Panchayat Committee (HPC) to solve the proposed relocation of 342 families from Harijan colony at Them Ïew Mawlong here.
Advocate General Amit Kumar during hearing of a writ appeal on the matter in the division bench of the Meghalaya High Court on Wednesday said the proposed meeting is slated to be held either on November 15 or 16.
Kumar however said that if the HPC is not convenient to attend the meeting on the proposed dates, it may propose some other dates to allow the parties to meet and to amicably settle such issues.
It may be mentioned that the contentious issue has dragged on in the Meghalaya High Court since 2018. The court had earlier observed that the matter of proposed relocation of the 342 families from Harijan colony at Them Ïew Mawlong has dragged on for “far too long”.
For more than two decades, several indigenous Khasi civil society groups have demanded from the government to relocate Dalit Sikhs , living there since British times, from Sweepers Lane as most of them are “illegal settlers”.
In fact, the State government had come up with a blueprint to accommodate all the 342 families of the Harijan Colony in dwelling units that will be created in place of the existing SMB quarters on around 2.5 acres of land.
The blueprint proposed the construction of 30-40 flats in 12 blocks on a 2.5-acre plot of land.
In October 2021, the State government took possession of the land measuring 12,444.13 square metres at Sweepers’ Colony after paying Rs 2 crore to the Hima Mylliem as a one-time payment.
This comes after signing of a tripartite lease deed between the government of Meghalaya, the Syiem of Hima Mylliem and Shillong Municipal Board on March 31, 2021.
“This court at this stage would not proceed further but would allow the parties to meet as proposed,” the division bench of Justice Wanlura Diengdoh, and Justice B Bhattacharjee said.
The High Court also said that the outcome of the meeting should be informed and placed before the court in the form of a report.
The next hearing on the matter will be held in the first week of December.
