The Khasi Students Union (KSU) has become the latest group to oppose the Harijan Panchayat Committee (HPC) demands over the fate of the residents of Them Ïewmawlong.
The HPC represents the residents there who have laid out a list of demands that need to be met before they agree to be relocated. The committee has asked for 2,000 square feet dwellings for each family on government land in the European Ward which they can pass down to future generations.
The KSU, which has been baying for the Them Ïewmawlong residents to be shifted out, called the demands unreasonable.
KSU president Lambokstarwell Marngar warned the government not to entertain the demands, told the HPC to stay grounded and issued a not-so-subtle threat if the pressure group is not heeded.
“Government shouldn’t succumb to such demands and if they do so all hell will break loose,” KSU general secretary Donald Thabah said. “The KSU will oppose the move and the local indigenous people will come out and oppose it too. There will be mayhem in the state.”
Many Shillong residents live in cramped homes less than 2,000 sq feet, he pointed out and if the government accepts the HPC demands, then other state employees could push for the same unreasonable deal. Thabah added that if the Them Ïewmawlong residents had been living in Punjab (where most trace their ancestry to) they would have been evicted “on day one”.
He then stated that the HPC is acting like a khun khatduh (the youngest daughter in a family who inherits ancestral property).
