Shillong, Oct 30: The Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) has decided to aggressively pursue with the state government to urge the Centre to amend the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950 for recognizing only the local indigenous tribes as Scheduled Tribes (ST) in Meghalaya.

The decision was taken after the KHADC received complaints against the rampant buying of land by people from outside the state at Pillangkata in Ri Bhoi district bordering Assam.

Speaking to media persons after meeting the Governor CH Vijayashankar on Tuesday, KHADC chief Pyniaid Sing Syiem said, “We have recently received complaints against the rampant buying of land by people from outside Meghalaya in the Pillangkata area. We have taken up with the state government on the matter because if we speak about the Meghalaya Land Transfer (Regulation) Act, it clearly prohibited people from outside the state to buy land in our state. However, the Act does not prohibit people, who are tribals of other states and are also recognized as Scheduled Tribes in the state of Meghalaya. This has created a lot of problems for us. That is why, we are urging the need to amend the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950 to clearly specify who are the indigenous tribes of Meghalaya.”

“(Pending the amendment of the 1950 order), many people, who are STs of other states like Nagas, Mizos and others, are buying land at Pillangkata at the moment. There could also be non-tribals, who are also getting to buy land out there,” he said while assuring that “The present executive committee (EC) is taking up the matter very seriously and is aggressively pursuing the issue with the state government.”

Further, the CEM also informed that the EC has entrusted the Elaka department and the Land department of the Council to resolve this issue and if necessary, take stern decisions to solve this problem of land alienation that is happening in areas bordering Assam.

Asked, Syiem said, “After receiving the complaint, we have summoned the Syiem of Hima Mylliem since the Syiem of Raid Marwet is under the Hima Mylliem and now what we have done we have entrusted the matter to the Elaka and Land departments and they have constituted one committee to look into this issue.”

“We have made it clear that we do not want such an incident to happen in other parts of the region. Therefore, we will try our best to speed up the committee and if the situation demands, we will take stern action on this matter,” he assured.

Meanwhile, Syiem said the KHADC is not accepting any application for registration of land by people from outside the state.

“Therefore, allow the committee to examine the issue and make decisions accordingly. We will not please anybody but we will do what is right in the interest of protecting our tribal lands,” he stated.

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