Residents under Hima Sohra have asked the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) to revoke its recent notification that reclassified Majai village as a Raid.
A delegation of the residents met KHADC Chief Executive Member (CEM), Pyniaid Sing Syiem and demanded scrapping of the June 24 notification.
The Hima Sohra stated that the decision to classify Majai as a Raid was done without the consent of the Dorbar Hima of Sohra.
“We cannot accept this at all,” Milkyway Bynnud, a representative of Hima Sohra, told media persons after the meeting.
Bynnud also pointed out that in Majai village the indigenous Khasis consists only 10 per cent and the rest are non-indigenous persons.
“Therefore, classification of Majai as a Raid is like giving non-indigenous people the authority to freely administer themselves,” he added.
Bynnud also said that the Hima Sohra feared that reclassification of Majai as a Raid could be an attempt to get potential financial benefits from export activities.
“We understand that this is a plan of other communities and if Majai is separated from Hima Sohra it could be profitable for them,” he added.
Meanwhile, the CEM told media persons that the KHADC has sought for time from the delegation to exercise the mind of the council and come out with the best solution for all stakeholders.
Syiem said that this matter will be reviewed after the KHADC session which will be held later this month.
According to Syiem, the reclassification of Majai, a village under Hima Sohra, into a Raid is not that it will have its own Elaka, but that it will fall under the former.
The CEM said that in the traditional Khasi way of governance there are three levels of administration, Hima, Raid and Shnong.
He pointed out that the June 24 notification was to strengthen the administration in Hima Sohra as well as to put a check on the way the Syiem and the Executive Dorbar function.
“We have received complaints of outsiders getting land documents and rampant issuance of NOC (No objection Certificates). For this reason we have to be stringent through this notification,” the KHADC chief said.
On allegations that there may be some sinister agenda behind the notification, since Majai is an export point, Syiem said that if the residents read the notification they would thank the KHADC.
He pointed out that during one of his visits to Majai, non-indigenous persons are carrying out businesses without trading licence and some even had land documents given by Hima Sohra.
Meanwhile, the Member of District Council from Sohra, Titostarwell Chyne said that notifying a Raid or a Shnong is through the recommendation of a Hima with the approval of the district council.
“What is clear now is that the notification of Majai as a Raid has not been recommended by the Dorbar of Hima Sohra,” Chyne said.
The controversy began with a notification issued by the KHADC on June 24, following an order from the executive committee on June 21.
This order reviewed and revoked an earlier Executive Order of May 7, 2020, which stated that “Majai and its administration will be looked after by the Syiem and Hima of Sohra.”
The recent notification reverted the status of Majai to ‘Raid Majai,’ as per the KHADC executive committee order of June 25, 2019.
Adding to the tension, a petition was submitted to the Syiem of Sohra, Freeman Sing Syiem on May 30 by the General Secretary of Dorbar Shnong Majai.
The petition questioned the issuance of a land document (dulir) to a non-Khasi in Majai and the appointment of a chairman in the village, demanding a response within three days.
This issue is further complicated by the historical context. Former CEM late H S Shylla had removed Freeman Sing Syiem from his position over similar accusations of issuing land documents to non-Khasis.
However, Freeman Sing Syiem was reinstated in June 2019 by the executive committee led by former CEM Teinwell Dkhar. The current CEM was serving as Deputy CEM in charge of Elaka Administration at the time.
