Relocation plans | Meghalaya government to meet Shillong’s Punjabi Lane residents

Shillong

Meghalaya Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong has said the State government will hold a meeting with residents of Punjabi Lane in Shillong, which hit the headlines following group clashes in 2018, to discuss the proposed relocation of “illegal settlers” of the locality.

The move has been initiated after the Meghalaya High Court had recently asked the government and Harijan Panchayat Committee (HPC), an organisation working for the welfare of residents of the area, to settle the matter.

“In all likelihood, we will meet with residents of Punjabi Lane and Harijan Panchayat Committee members next week to discuss the matter of their relocation,” Mr. Tynsong said on Tuesday.

The State government had in October last year taken over the land of Punjabi Lane locality and decided that “illegal settlers” would be relocated from there. The decision was taken based on a recommendation by a high-level committee (HLC) headed by Mr. Tynsong.

However, the Harijan Panchayat Committee had rejected the HLC's recommendation submitted to the State government for relocating the people from there, claiming that it was “illegal" and filed a petition in the high court.

A division Bench of the high court, comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice W. Diengdoh, had on March 9 said, “Since the private appellant submits that it is seeking to negotiate an alternative site for relocation and the matter is under consideration of the State, both the private appellant's appeal and the State's appeal should be adjourned to allow an attempt at settlement.” Punjabi Lane in Them Iew Mawlong area of the Meghalaya capital is inhabited by people from Punjab, who were brought to Shillong around 200 years ago by the British to engage them in sanitary works.