Tribal women's urges Meghalaya govt not to alienate land

Shillong, May 9 (UNI) Tribal Khasi Women's in Meghalaya today urged the regional allies of the Congress-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government to take special care not to alienate land in the name of industrial development of the state.

It was matter of regret and shame that the BJP, which is not a regional political party, could foresee the abuse and danger of the single window agency which allegedly facilitates alienation of the land to the private business entities in the name of industrial development of the state, the Khasi Women Welfare and Development Association (KWWADA) said.

In a statement, the KWWADA said, ''whereas the regional political parties - United Democratic Party, Meghalaya Democratic Party, Hill State People's Democratic Party and Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement are still blind and have not spoken up to this date about this industrial policy of the State.'' Earlier, the KWWADA said that it had already sounded alert and voiced concern over the stand of MDA government regarding the rampant allotment and alienation of land for setting up big industrial units in the state.

''If at all the MDA government wants to rule the State in 2008, they should give first priority to look into the alienation of land to outsiders. It is high time for the MDA government to repeal the obnoxious sections of the Land Transfer Act, which is unlawful and unconstitutional,'' the KWWADA said.

The KWWADA also urged all regional political parties to include the land problem in their general election manifesto.

Recently, the BJP today criticised the Lapang-led ministry over the violation of state land laws by allotting plots to private parties in the name of industrial development of the state.

Expressing regrets that the people of the state had not been aware of this dangerous situation, the BJP urged the NGOs to be courageous and raise objections.

''Even if they support any particular party in the MDA government, they should not have remained mute to the 'anti-people policies' of the government,'' the BJP had stated.

UNI