Rights violated in Nongsder land acquisition: Counsel
From our Correspondent
SHILLONG, May 16: The counsel for the villagers of Nongsder, Pyllun and Mawpun in Ri-Bhoi district, affected by land acquisition, Erwin K Sutnga today said that the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 has been violated.
“Based on the order issued by the High Court clause 40 was invoked without the consultation of the District Council, while section 41 of this fair compensation and transparency land acquisition act, 2013 states that even if there is an emergency, consultation with the district councils have to be taken into consideration,” Sutnga said.
The counsel said that the petitioners never asked to stop the construction of the airport but only objected to the illegal manner in which the land acquisition is being carried out.
According to Sutnga the army gave about 28 acres of land for expansion of the Umroi Airport and in lieu 32 acres were promised to them at Nongsder village.
He, however, said that the army is already in possession of over 1000 acres of land under the Umroi cantonment and most of these lands have not been utilised.
Sutnga suggested the army to acquire land in the border areas, since according to him, with global warming the landmass of Bangladesh will be reduced and there is a major danger of heavy influx of Bangladeshi to India.
He also said that in this case the affected families were not even served prior notice.
It may be mentioned that on May 13, the Supreme Court issued a stay order against the October 15, 2015-order issued by the Meghalaya High Court on land acquisition.
The order came following a petition filed by Billinda Lapang, R Sangma, headman of Pyllun village M Warbah and headman of Nongsder village, Welcome Shangpliang with regards to land acquisition, forcible eviction of residents and destruction of property.
At least 15 houses, 10 in Pyllun village and 5 in Nongsder village, were demolished allegedly without serving prior notices leading to displacement of settlers on May 5 and May 10 respectively.
