Shillong, November 4: The East Khasi Hills district administration on Wednesday removed locks placed by the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) at the Lower Terminal Point of the Shillong Ropeway Project in Madan Laban, reopening the premises amid an ongoing dispute over trading licence requirements.

A team of magistrates, accompanied by police personnel, arrived at the site around 11 am and used tools to break open the locks on the entrance gate and the office of the company executing the project.

The KHADC had locked the premises on October 27, alleging that the company was operating without obtaining a trading licence from the Council.

Wednesday’s intervention brought the dispute between the district administration and the KHADC into focus, particularly over the Council’s authority to enforce trading licence requirements at the project site.

According to district authorities, the locks were removed from both the entrance gate and the company’s office within the Lower Terminal Point. Security personnel were subsequently deployed at the premises to prevent any untoward incident.

Earlier, the Tourism Department had lodged an FIR against a KHADC inspector over the closure, alleging that the action was unlawful and maintaining that the project site was located on government land.

The removal of the locks has reopened the Madan Laban terminal, but the dispute over the KHADC’s trading licence requirements and the jurisdiction of the project site remains unresolved.