Defence guidelines on land use, distance between buildings cause concern
Shillong, Jan 23: Guidelines related to structures in a defence land might come in the way of the state government’s proposal to defence ministry to allot land for relocation of the Harijan Colony in Shillong. At the same time, there has been positive response from the ministry to allot land for expansion of the Shillong Airport.
Addressing reporters on Wednesday, chief minister Conrad K Sangma said the state government’s request for allotment of defence land for relocation of 342 families of Harijan Colony from Them Iew Mawlong had faced some “constraints” in view of certain defence guidelines.
“There are certain (defence) guidelines in terms of land issue… distance to be maintained for another building to come up… size of the building so on and so forth,” the chief minister said.
Explaining it further on the challenge in getting the defence land, he said, “The army has very strict provisions in terms of construction that can take place around an army set-up.”
The government wanted the land to build a housing colony for the Harijan families.
Stating that defence procedures are complicated and must be followed, he said, “We are looking at all possible options including talking to the army.”
Positive response on airport expansion
Meanwhile, the chief minister said, the defence ministry had given a positive response on the state government’s request for acquiring land for expansion of Shillong Airport at Umroi in Ri-Bhoi district.
“I have got a very positive response from him,” Sangma said recalling his meeting with defence minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi recently.
Expansion of the runway is very important to facilitate landing of commercial flights (A320) at Shillong Airport, he said.
The government is hopeful of starting the runway expansion work soon and complete it in 12 to 15 months, he added.
