The Hynñiewtrep National Youth Front (HNYF) will launch a sit-in demonstration tomorrow in protest against the state government’s decision to amend the Meghalaya State Investment Promotion and Facilitation Act (MSIPF), 2024, allowing Invest Meghalaya Authority (IMA) to buy land for investors.
According to the pressure group, the IMA will harm the tribal community of the state by opening the way for control of land by outside private companies.
The pressure group had also written a letter to the Chief Minister spelling out its opposition and demanded that the act should be put on hold and the government to first consult relevant stakeholders.
While the state government stated that the amendment of the MSIPF only allows the IMA to establish land banks specifically for industrial development the HNYF said that the act is “an agent of land acquisition in favour of non-tribal entities.”
The HNYF stated that the act also places a huge amount of trust and responsibility in the hands of the CM and cabinet minister, making them “neo-feudal lords”. Section 39 of the act also “grants legal immunity” to the chairman of the governing council and high-powered committee and all its members, “implying that the neo-feudal lords are beyond the reach of judicial scrutiny”, it said.
