The Hynñiewtrep Youths Council (HYC) has been left amused after Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong called for a verification of information relating to the Sweeper’s Colony at Them Ïewmawlong that was provided through a Right to Information (RTI) request.
The HYC had, through the RTI, been told by the Shillong Municipal Board (SMB) that fewer than 200 families out of the 342 in the colony had a member who works for the SMB. Of the other 148, some have members who work elsewhere or who have retired from the SMB. All the 342 families are slated to be relocated to government housing after protracted negotiations.
Tynsong is the chairman of a high level committee tasked with representing the government’s side in the negotiations. He has sought for a reverification of the SMB data provided to the HYC.
The pressure group’s president, Roykupar Synrem, said that the high level committee has been in existence for six years, which should have given it ample time to study all the relevant documents.
The HYC chief said that the RTI was not manufactured by the pressure group but it was a reply that it got from the nodal department dealing with the matter.
“To say that the Shillong Municipal Board has made a mistake and its reply is inconsistent with the facts makes us feel that the officer who gave us this reply should be held responsible,” he said.
Synrem said that this could be a tactic by the government to delay the matter even as he said that giving land free to the 148 families who do not have a working member in the SMB is unacceptable.
