No plan to amend land transfer Act, says CM Conrad Sangma

Shillong, Jan 10: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Friday said there is no question of the government trying to amend the Land Transfer Act and bypassing the autonomous district councils (ADCs) in its endeavour to create land banks for promoting important investments in the state.

Referring to the allegations and apprehensions against the Investment Meghalaya Agency (IMA) as incorrect information, Sangma said that it is completely wrong to say that the amendment of the Land Transfer Act will be done.

“Let me categorically clarify to everybody that it is absolutely incorrect as there is no amendment to the Land Transfer Act. There is no question of bypassing the district councils (or traditional heads/rangbah shnongs). There is no question of private sectors coming in and buying land directly. None of these procedures have been amended, nothing has been done and nothing will be done,” Sangma assured.

Going back to the Cabinet decision on the matter, the CM said, “From day one, the only amendment we made was we are allowing IMA to also buy land and create a land pool like MIDC and MTDC have because this is the agency that is going to promote the investments.”

“Contrary to what certain press agencies say that we backtrack, we did not backtrack. The facts that you presented in the beginning were wrong. We only clarified that your facts were wrong and from day one we said there is no question of these three points…” he said while adding “If there are further concerns by anybody or by any agency or any district council or any organization, we will be happy to talk, we will be happy to address those issues discuss with you, clarify it and if there are certain points that thought process need to be done we are happy to look into it.”

Further explaining the role of the IMA, Sangma said, “IMA is another authority of the government of Meghalaya. It is also a body where individuals will apply for permissions now to start their companies and also to get necessary subsidies that the state and Centre are providing.”

“Earlier there used to be the single window agency (SWA) but SWA was more industry oriented. Today we have investments in health, power, tourism, and education. Therefore, for an education institute, should he go to the education department for permission or should he go to the industry department or if somebody wants to start a hospital, should he go to the health department or should he go to the single window agency for permission. Because of these kinds of complexities, we have decided to come up with the IMA, which all departments are part of. It is one-stop shop and a single portal, where the investors can apply and the necessary permissions are given through the IMA, which then approaches the different departments, different agencies for the necessary permissions,” he said while adding “Therefore, it is nothing but a platform to allow people to come to one location but the process of permission to be given by the agencies stand as is where is. That means the permission required from the district council has to be taken, must be taken and there is no change in that. It is just channelising the entire system through IMA.”

He further added, “When IMA is giving these permission then IMA is also an authority where individuals will say we also want to set up a factory, we need one acre or two acres of land. Sometimes, MIDC will have it or sometimes they may not have it. Therefore, the decision we took was like MIDC, like MTDC like DRDA, government agencies, which can buy land and then further lease it for investments, IMA also should be allowed to purchase land and create a land bank to then further lease out to investors, it is as simple as that.”

Also Read: Meghalaya Govt. revises Minimum Wages: ₹645 for highly skilled, ₹525 for unskilled labourers

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