Meghalaya government on September 8 handed over 10 acres of land in the New Shillong township for the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) to set up a permanent base.
In a video statement released to the media after the meeting held in the secretariat with the CRPF, chief minister Conrad Sangma said that the CRPF has for many years requested the state government to allot a permanent location and permanent camp for them.
He said that since a permanent location was still to be allotted, the different battalions and companies of the CRPF have been kept in different parts of the city and the state on a temporary basis, an arrangement which was extended for a very long time.
“Today we have decided and in fact handed over the allotment of 10 acres of land in the New Shillong township area next to IIM for the CRPF to have a permanent camp in the state of Meghalaya which will further facilitate the process of shifting the temporary camps and taking the different CRPF personnel from those temporary camps to the permanent land which is being given to them. We also discussed the shifting of the camps in certain locations where there had been a lot of demand from the public also, like in the areas of Mawlai,” Sangma said.
The chief minister said that the shifting of the CRPF camps to the permanent site will commence once the finalization and approval from the Union ministry of home affairs is received, to take over the land which has been allotted by the state government.
The meeting also discussed the way forward for the most suitable utilization of the land once the temporary camps are vacated by the CRPF.
Sangma said that the state government is contemplating setting up skill and entrepreneurship training facilities or arts and culture centre in the CRPF camp in the Mawlai area of the city, once it is vacated.
“We had a very productive meeting and we are hopeful that very soon the approval from MHA will come for the taking over of the land by the CRPF which has been allotted by us today,” the chief minister added.
