Meghalaya government to move Sikhs from Shillong’s Punjabi Lane
Shillong: There seems to be no resolution to the land dispute between Sikh residents of Punjabi Lane, the epicenter of the Shillong race riots in 2018, and the Meghalaya government, when the state cabinet announced its decision to annex Harijan Colony, or within a week. Within Sweeper Colony.
The Meghalaya cabinet on Thursday decided to go ahead based on the recommendation of the High Level Committee (HLC) and move Sikhs described as “illegal settlers” of Punjabi Lane in Them Iw Mawlong area of Shillong.
Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said that the HLC had recommended the Urban Affairs Department to find a suitable place to rehabilitate the people living in the area as those serving with the state government would be shifted to the official quarters of the departments concerned.
Around 350 Sikh families living in Evduh (Punjabi Lane) are fighting for eviction from the land where they have been living for two centuries. They claim that before 1863, a Khasi tribal chieftain donated the land to them.
The Conrad Sangma government had in June 2018 announced the formation of a high-level committee to settle the land dispute. Violence broke out in Shillong on May 31 that year after a dispute between some women of Punjabi Lane area and a city bus driver and conductor. Rumors spread on social media had fueled the anger of the crowd.
The Harijan Panchayat Samiti (HPC), which represents the residents of Punjabi Lane, rejected the HLC report on the transfer. “We will fight tooth and nail and stop all illegal acts of the Meghalaya government,” HPC secretary Gurjit Singh said in a statement issued on Friday.
“Challenging the recently submitted HLC report of the State Government led by Conrad K Sangma on land ownership of poor Sikhs at HPC, Bada Bazar, Shillong, representing the interests of hundreds of families residing there for the last 200 years and And, has rejected the report, parts of which had surfaced in the media yesterday.”
Responding to Chief Minister Sangma’s statement that the process of acquiring land in Sweepers Colony, which includes a gurudwara, school and a church, will be completed within a week, Singh said, “We will fight for our rights. Will fight till the last moment. Breath. We will die for our land and will not allow any illegal, illegal, immoral and unjust action by the Meghalaya government.
“The matter is sub-judice in the Supreme Court of India and the Meghalaya government will violate procedures if it insists on carrying forward its illegal schemes,” he said.
“We are the legitimate owners of the so-called disputed 2.5 acres of land, as it was gifted to our ancestors by Saiyam, the tribal chief of Hima Mailim. No one else has any right on this land.
Singh also alleged that the Meghalaya cabinet has failed to appreciate the genesis of the case, that poor Sikhs serving the state are now being forced to evict under pressure from the land mafia and for simple reasons. The then inaccessible area is now the prime asset.
After the cabinet meeting to discuss the HLC’s recommendations on Sweepers Colony, Sangma had tweeted, “Procedure for signing of tripartite agreement and taking possession of land by the government in the Department of Urban Affairs. The SIEM of Mylim has started and the whole process should be completed by next week.”
Meghalaya government to move Sikhs from Shillong’s Punjabi Lane
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by News East India staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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