Punjabi Lane settlers have a month to prove legality of stay

A High Level Committee (HLC) set up by the Meghalaya government Friday gave one month's time to the residents of Punjabi Lane here to prove that they had settled in the area legally.

Punjabi Lane is inhabited by people from Punjab, who were brought to Shillong around 200 years ago by the British to work as cleaners and sweepers. An incident of assault in the area in May last year had resulted in group clashes following which it was put under curfew for over a month.

"We have decided in a meeting to give one month's time to the settlers to submit their documents to prove legality of their stay. They will submit the papers to the chief executive officer of the Shillong Municipal Board (SMB)," said Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong, who is the head of the HLC.

The SMB was instructed to create an inventory of properties following a survey in the area and public notices will be issued to all the settlers in this regard, he said.

The settlers had refused to cooperate with .