The Meghalaya State Investment Promotion and Facilitation (MSIPF) Act is “dangerous in letter and spirit”, which allows concentration of power in the hands of a few who will not only unilaterally decide the nature of investments but also alienate tribal lands for the same.
This was stated by the Thma U Rangli Juki (TUR) after obtaining documents through the RTI, on the Meghalaya Investment Promotion Authority (MIPA).
TUR said while 80 per cent of the tribal population is landless the Act will further exacerbate the situation. It poses an imminent threat to the Land Transfer Act despite the recent amendments, its menace lies in its facilitation for the local powerful elites to further hoard and accumulate wealth at the expense of the people. The ramifications of this will be a deepening inequality which dispossesses people, pushing them into poverty and insecurity, TUR said.
The organisation said MIPA has, unilaterally and in a non-transparent manner, made plans to “repurpose” land for projects in Shillong. As per the minutes accessed by the organisation the repurposing suggestions made by the authority, which include the widening of Bivar Road by destroying and reducing the land holding of Wards Lake is anti-people in a town lacking open public spaces. The minutes also show the authority’s intention to take over the English Service Church located next to the old Legislative Assembly with zero regard for religious sentiments and the preservation of heritage buildings, it added.
“In the name of ease of doing business and chasing the dream of a $10 billion economy, the government is pushing for rapid investment in known and unknown planned projects through MIPA,” TUR said, adding, “Without strict due diligence and considering sustainability and environmental threats, this could be disastrous for the state’s deteriorating environment. Likewise, due to the lack of consideration for land alienation, workers’ rights, economic disparities and the overall welfare of the people, MIPA’s investment ambition is fraught with danger in the long and short term for the people of Meghalaya.”
The RTI documents, TUR said shows the government’s intention to bulldoze through a bill that will facilitate what gets invested in the state and who gets to invest unilaterally without appropriate oversight.
Before the information was made available, TUR said, the authority tried to deny and delay until an order was made by the State Information Commission, following a second appeal.
In December 2024, TUR was granted access to inspect MIPA (formerly known as Invest Meghalaya Authority) three files. “How MIPA is functioning is shocking. TUR and the State Information Commission had difficulty locating the authority’s office. In the first instance, we only met with a group of clueless consultants in a room at the main secretariat who informed us that they were reporting to K Hynniewta of the Planning Department,” TUR said.
The organisation said it was shocked and disheartened how MIPA was formed. “The authority was created from a law mooted in February 2024 and passed in March 2024 without a pre-legislative consultative process and minimal clause-by-clause discussion in the assembly,” TUR said.
Condemning the government for its undemocratic and non-transparent practices that circumvent public accountability and oversight, TUR also urged the government to initiate a broad consultation process which would allow civil society to participate in framing the rules of the act.
Meanwhile, the organisation said all the RTI documents have been uploaded to hokmeghalaya.in for public view.
