The Dorbar Shnong Umphyrnai, under Nongkrem constituency today decided to boycott the 2025 Khasi Hill Autonomous District Council (KHADC) election.
The dorbar shnong took this resolution after the Executive Committee of the KHADC decided to give the status of a village to Mawsaw locality falling under Umphyrnai village.
According to the Sordar of Umphyrnai village L Kharkongor, most of the land in Mawsaw village is owned by the Kharkongor (Pohkseh) clan and their demand (for carving out a new village) has been pending since 2019.
“But suddenly on September 13 this year we received a letter that the last hearing on the matter will be held on September 24. When there was never a first or second hearing the issue of final hearing does not arise,” the Sordar of Umphyrnai said.
He said that during that particular hearing the Umphyrnai village authorities opposed the proposal.
Kharkongor said that the dorbar shnong received a letter from the office of the Syiem of Hima Khyrim that there will be an inspection of Umphyrnai to demarcate the boundaries of the village.
He said that the KHADC sent the letter to the Syiem of Hima Khyrim on November 28 and the latter sent it to them on December 4 and the village committee gave its report on December 10.
“However on December 17 we received a letter from the KHADC recognising the new village of Mawsaw which was carved out of Umphyrnai,” the Sordar said.
Opposing the decision of the district council he said that the Umphynai dorbar will move the court to quash the order.
Kharkongor said that Mawsaw area has 18 households belonging to the Kharkongor (Pohkseh) clan out of whom 16 are with the Umphyrnai dorbar shnong.
He also said that he suspects the decision to carve a new village by the KHADC was only a political ploy to benefit someone.
Henry Dkhar, a member of the dorbar shnong said that they also oppose the new Building Bye-Laws of the KHADC.
“The KHADC does not have its own engineers or architects and it takes six to seven months to get building permission,” Dkhar said.
He also said that getting building permission is an expensive affair and it is more like harassment for the villagers.
