Shillong, Jun 24: The Divisional Forest Officer of East and North Garo Hills, HG Momin, today issued a rejoinder to allegations that land was illegally sold and transferred in the village of Dagal Bolmedang to the state government.
It was on June 3 that an organisation called Garo Hills Youth Solidarity (GHYS) wrote to the Chief Minister to lay out its accusation that 114 acres of land worth Rs 1 crore had been acquired from villagers by the Forest Department without following proper legal procedures and without securing the consent of the actual landowners. The land is agricultural and supports the community’s survival. The activist group claimed that no public consultation or social impact assessment was conducted to evaluate the implications for the affected families and there was an absence of compensation plans for the impacted landowners.
Momin today called the report misleading and incomplete because it was based on “unverified allegations and assertions attributed to the complainants”.
The forest official stated that the department’s role in the acquisition was to identify suitable land for compensatory reforestation, with the Revenue authorities, district administration and state government dealing with the rest.
The A’king Nokma and other traditional bodies and officials certified that the land in question was owned by the person to whom compensation was intended for (this person’s name was deliberately withheld by Momin in the interest of privacy) and that certain persons had approached the department claiming to be the rightful owners but they had failed, when asked, to provide documents in support of their claim.
Today, in another twist, the villagers and GHYS president Endick Marak moved the Meghalaya Human Rights Commission (MHRC) over the supposed illegal land transfer.
The complaint stated that villagers became aware of the alleged transfer only after a village meeting in January 2024, where it was reportedly announced by A’king Nokma that the land, including cultivated gardens belonging to villagers, had been sold to the Forest Department. The complainants further allege that land measurements were conducted without meaningful consultation with those whose gardens were affected.
The villagers claim that several representations and complaints were submitted to the Forest Department, Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC), public representatives and other authorities between 2025 and 2026 but no effective remedial action was taken. They also allege that they were denied access to relevant information and that responses obtained through the Right to Information (RTI) Act raised concerns regarding the transparency of the transaction.
The MHRC was also told that Edick Marak, the president of the GHYC, was being harassed by the DFO, Momin. It claimed that an FIR was filed against Marak, though no details on this were provided.
The complainants contended that the actions taken against him “were intended to discourage legitimate efforts to seek justice and accountability.”
