The Voice of the People Party (VPP) has to spend an inordinate amount of time battling allegations made by political opponents against party leader Ardent M Basaiawmoit’s past.
Yesterday, the National People’s Party attacked Basaiawmoit for his past suggestion that Meghalaya be brought under Article 371 of the Constitution. The VPP supremo has also been criticised for his alleged stance on the applicability of state building bylaws in areas under the autonomous district councils.
Party spokesperson Batskhem Myrboh today stated that in 2015 Basaiawmoit took up the issue of the Meghalaya Building Bylaws after receiving several complaints from the public regarding their implementation under the Shillong Master Plan.
Basaiawmoit fought with the people against the plan to apply the bylaws to Scheduled areas, Myrboh said. This was during the time that Ampareen Lyngdoh was the Urban Affairs Minister. She is now the NPP’s candidate for the upcoming Lok Sabha election from the Shillong seat.
“As a result of this agitation, the state government issued a press release stating that they would not implement the bylaws in scheduled areas,” Myrboh explained. However, a PIL was filed in the High Court and it gave its verdict in the matter in 2017.
Basaiawmoit has been accused of having a close understanding with the then Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma on the bylaws issue, which Myrboh called senseless.
He also called out the apparent hypocrisy of the ruling alliance, which has still not exempted the building bylaws from the district council areas.
“The claim that the MDA (Meghalaya Democratic Alliance) has done well by allowing the district council to give building permission is misleading because the same building bylaws apply. The district council understands that they will be getting revenue once they become the authority to give building permission outside the municipal area and they have only looked at this from a revenue-generating perspective and not out of concern about the hardships of the people,” Myrboh said, adding that the current Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council wants to take the bylaws even outside Shillong with the sole intention of earning revenue.
If the NPP is so concerned with the plight of the public then why, when it controls both the state government and KHADC, does it not make the process of applying for building permission free, Myrboh asked acerbically.
