Residents of over 40 villages marching against the relocation of the Ri Muliang C&RD Block office from Nonglang to Tynghor is not just a local grievance. It is a textbook case of how administrative units in Meghalaya are treated as political trophies – to be given before elections and taken away after them.
At first glance, it is a local dispute – whether a block office should be at Nonglang or Tynghor. But it reveals a deeper malaise in how we create institutions in Meghalaya.
The Ri Muliang C&RD Block, covering 71 villages, was inaugurated in November 2022, barely three months before the 2023 Assembly elections. The notification creating the block did not specify its headquarters. This was not an exception. Many blocks were created then, with fanfare but without clarity on where the headquarters would be. Foundation stones became more important than foundations.
Now, villagers say the office that was inaugurated at Nonglang is sought to be shifted to Tynghor. The Joint Action Committee, which led the protest and submitted a memorandum to Deputy Commissioner Hema Nayak, says simply: “What has been given cannot be taken away.” They accuse Rambrai-Jyrngam MLA Remington Gabil Momin of pushing the shift for political reasons.
The question is not whether Nonglang is better than Tynghor or vice versa. The question is whether a C&RD Block – the most basic unit of delivery for MGNREGS, PMAY, job cards, pensions and housing – can be treated as a movable political asset.
On merit, Nonglang does have a case. Land was allotted by the village itself for the block. It already has a higher secondary school, a PHC and a veterinary centre – the makings of a rural administrative hub. Villagers argue that people from Langpih and Tynghor pass through Nonglang to reach Nongstoiñ and Riangdo, making it the natural choice.
But that claim must be tested with data, not sentiment. And that is where governance has failed.
Meghalaya has seen this before. Blocks, sub-divisions and police outposts are inaugurated before elections without proper gazette notification, without staff sanction, without buildings. It is a ribbon-cutting exercise to win votes. After elections, the real file work begins, and the office is quietly shifted to a village that voted for the winning party.
There are only two possibilities here. If Nonglang was properly notified as headquarters in 2022, in that case, shifting it to Tynghor requires denotification, a Cabinet decision and a reasoned order. The government must publish that order. You cannot shift a C&RD Block like a tent. Another is if Nonglang was never notified then the 2022 inauguration was only a political event. The government of the day must answer why 70 villages were misled and why a ceremony was held at Nonglang at all.
In both cases, the onus is on the government to come clean. No papers have been shown to the villagers. Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong’s announcement at Rambrai that the office will be built at Tynghor, followed by a survey by the Deputy Commissioner’s office there, has only deepened the suspicion that the decision is political.
If the local MLA believes Tynghor is better, he must prove it with comparative data on accessibility, population coverage and infrastructure, not hide behind Shillong saying the matter lies with the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister. That is an abdication.
The government must stop the survey at Tynghor until the notification status of Nonglang is clarified and made public. The district administration must place both options before the public – with a map and data on distance and travel time for each of the 71 villages. Let the numbers decide.
The government must also adopt a policy that no block headquarters will be shifted within five years of its creation unless recommended by an independent committee. Administrative geography cannot be hostage to electoral arithmetic.
The villagers of Ri Muliang are not asking for a favour. They are asking the government to keep its promise. A school, a health centre, a block office is not a gift from a ruler. It is a right of the people. If it can be snatched away after elections, what then is permanent in governance? Politics must not dictate geography.
