Fear grips Meghalaya's Punjabi Line as fresh eviction threat looms large

Residents of Harijan Colony, better known as 'Punjabi line' in Meghalaya capital Shillong are living in fear of being evacuated from the area after local administration council said that the Syiem (traditional chieftain) of Hima Mylliem will sign an MoU with the state government transferring the ownership of the Harijan Colony land at Iew Mawlong to the government.

Shillong (Meghalaya): Fear has gripped the over 2500 residents of Harijan Colony, better known as 'Punjabi line' in Meghalaya capital Shillong after the Khasi Hills Autonomous Council (KHADC) recently said that the Syiem (traditional chieftain) of Hima Mylliem will sign an MoU with the state government transferring the ownership of the Harijan Colony land at Iew Mawlong to the government.

The Harijan Colony at Iew Mawlong was inhabited by 300 Sikh families, who were brought to Meghalaya in 1853 by the British rulers, mainly to be engaged in sweeping and manual scavenging jobs. The descendants of the Sikh families still, whose population has grown to about 2500, live in the colony now.

In 2018 violent clashes broke out between the local Khasis and the Sikh residents of Harijan Colony after the government allegedly made an 'attempt' to evict the residents of the Harijan Colony. Although it started with an altercation between the Sikh residents and a local bus conductor, the situation turned violent after groups of local people attacking the residents of the colony and torching some shops around. The situation remained tense for days forcing the government to impose a curfew for several days and deployment of central forces to contain the situation.

Chief Executive Member of the Council, Titosstarwell Chyne on Monday said that there will be a transfer of ownership of the land from Syiem of Hima Mylliem to the state government and an MoU will be signed between the Syiem and the state government. He added that the Syiem of Hima Mylliem had sent a draft of the MoU as he cannot sign the MoU without the approval of the Council.

The development has left the residents of Punjabi line with fear of losing the area, where they had been living for over one and a half-century.

"We saw this in a newspaper today. How can the KHADC do this? The government had formed a high-level expert committee after the violence in June 2018 and asked them to find out a lasting solution to the problem. The committee is yet to submit its report," said Gurjeet Singh, a resident of the Colony and president of the Harijan Colony Panchayat.

"Our ancestors have been living in this area since 1853. The then Syiem of the area had donated the land to our ancestors and said that they can live here as long as they want. Now, this is not fair that the government is trying to get the land from the Syiem after which we would be evicted from here," Singh said.