The Hynñiewtrep Youths’ Council (HYC) has demanded the State government to make the proposed amendment to the Meghalaya State Investment Promotion Facilitation Act, 2024 public to solicit views, opinions and suggestions.
Through the amendment of the Act, the State government wants to allow the Invest Meghalaya Authority (IMA) to buy land for investors.
“The proposed amendment will create a situation where the IMA, through the land mafias, will gain control and monopolise the land sale in Meghalaya. In the name of IMA and development, huge plot of lands will be acquired by these land mafias from the owners and then sell them at exorbitant prices to the government,” HYC president Roy Kupar Synrem said.
He said the proposed amendment also runs the risk of alienation of tribal lands in the State to non-tribals or corporate houses and will undermine the tribal identity and autonomy, which the community enjoy at present due to various laws and legislations in force in the State.
The HYC also demanded that the government should keep its decision on hold.
Stating that land in Meghalaya is a scarce commodity wherein about 70 per cent of the population are landless, the pressure group suggested creation of land banks for landless people instead of being hyperactive on creating land banks for corporate or private investors.
