New Delhi: With the Meghalaya government issuing notices to the residents of the Sikh Harijan Colony of Shillong’s Bara Bazar area, the longstanding dispute over their relocation has come into the spotlight yet again. Sikh political and religious forces from outside the state have offered overwhelming support to the occupants.
The armed outfit Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) had recently threatened to take action against Sikh residents of the colony. Alleging that the colony’s residents were ‘illegal migrants’, they demanded that they therefore must vacate the area.
Several of the families living in the Harijan Colony are said to have arrived to Shillong more than 150 years ago.
Reports on local news outlets say state police have been beefing up security in the area since June 12.
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Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) old ally, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), had asked for the immediate intervention of Union home minister Amit Shah in the matter. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) then sought a copy of the order based on which the ‘showcause’ notices asking residents to prove their legality had been pasted on nearly 300 dwellings by Shillong Municipal Board (SMB) on May 31.
On June 14, Meghalaya government chief secretary P.S. Thangkhiew held a meeting with MHA officials and submitted his report on the matter.
Relocation to ‘ease traffic’
The order was issued to the SMB by a high-level committee set up by the state government following violence in the area in May 2018. On May 29, 2018, the Colony which is adjacent to the city’s largest market, Bara Bazar, witnessed an altercation between some Sikh residents and two members of a local tribal community over a parking issue. The quarrel snowballed into a riot-like situation.
The incidents that followed it also brought to light the prevalent undercurrents over Sikh residents of the Colony refusing to take up the state government’s offer to relocate them to another area. The government had said that the relocation would help ease traffic congestion in the market.
News reports quoting official sources have said that out of the entire population of people living in the colony, also referred to as ‘Punjabi Lane’, as many as 184 are employed with the SMB and other government departments. “Their families had earlier been identified as legal settlers.”
Meghalaya chief minister Conrad Sangma has reportedly assured Akali Dal leaders of Harijan Colony residents’ safety. Photo: Twitter/@SangmaConrad
The committee, which is looking at finding a permanent solution to the issue, had recently asked the SMB to conduct an “inventorisation of the area” by serving the residents notices. The notices put up on the houses in the locality in the presence of an area magistrate sought details from the residents about the year of occupancy of the land and the buildings among other things. Residents have been asked to furnish the information to the SMB between June 3 and July 3.
The SMB had tried to carry out a similar drive as well last year but residents did not cooperate with it. On June 17, state urban and municipal affairs minister Hamlet Dohling asked residents to cooperate with the government by furnishing the required information in order “to find a way out”. He said that since the land “belongs to the state government,” residents must cooperate with its plans.
Threats worry Punjab govt, Sikh organisations
Following the HNLC threats, a delegation of the Delhi branch of the Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) also reached Shillong on June 13. The delegation met state home minister James Sangma who assured it of the safety of the residents.
On June 15, Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh too named an official delegation to be sent to Shillong to take stock of the situation. The four-member team is headed by state cabinet minister Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria. Amarinder also wrote a letter to Meghalaya chief minister Conrad Sangma seeking reassurance on the safety of the Colony’s residents.
Have written to Meghalaya CM @SangmaConrad to ensure proper protection for Punjabi settlers in Shillong. Also sending a State Government delegation to meet the CM and the Punjabi families there.
— Capt.Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) June 14, 2019
On June 17, SAD leader and Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal met Conrad in Delhi along with national and Delhi members of the SGPC. Sangma reportedly assured them of an amicable solution to the problem.
Jumping into the fray, BJP national secretary Tarun Chugh too has backed the Sikh residents of Shillong. Speaking to UNI in Chandigarh on June 18, Chugh said, “We won’t allow Shillong Sikhs to be victimised in any manner and shall ensure that their lives and properties are protected.”
Meanwhile, three cases related to the relocation of the Sikhs came up for hearing at the Meghalaya high court on June 18. While one is a contempt case filed by the Harijan Panchayat Committee against SMB for issuing notices for the relocation of the residents, the second one concerns a review petition filed by the state government against an earlier order of the high court regarding handing over the dispute to a civil court.
The third one reportedly deals with the 1954 agreement between the local head of the area and the SMB, and the allegation that the Board is not honouring the agreement.