Shillong: The Union Government should hand over portions of defence land occupied by the armed forces in the heart of the capital city to the Meghalaya government, Chief Minister Mukul Sangma said on Friday.
“The land not required by the defence should be handed over to the State in view of the fact that the Meghalaya's Capital city is growing and getting increasingly congested,” Mr. Sangma asserted in the Assembly.
He said people were facing problems and the Centre was expected to comply with the State's request to vacate “excess land” in the city, occupied by the defence forces.
The Chief Minister pointed out that infrastructure, meant for ‘decongesting' the State Capital of traffic snarls could not be built because of this.
Mr. Sangma said that the government had received several complaints against the defence forces, vis-à-vis occupation of land in various parts of the city, even as he informed that he had taken up the matter with the Defence Minister.
‘Mutually acceptable'
The Chief Minister, however, said that the State Government was trying to solve the issue on “mutually acceptable” terms.
Replying to a query raised by legislator Paul Lyngdoh, Mr. Sangma said, “Except for some complaints about restrictions of using roads via those establishments, government is not aware of any harassment by the armed forces”.
The Chief Minister was replying to a question whether the government was aware that local populace living in the vicinity of defence land was facing “harrowing time”.
Members from both the ruling and opposition benches expressed concern over the defence forces occupying land in and around Shillong and called for immediate action to retrieve the same.
A good chunk of the area of Shillong is occupied by the Army, the CRPF, the Assam Rifles, the Air Force, the BSF and other security agencies who have some of their key regional administrative offices here.