Shillong,May 31: The Shillong Municipal Board (SMB) on Friday served notices to all residents of the Sweeper’s Colony directing them to furnish documents before the board’s office within a month’s time.

The exercise was conducted by six teams comprising of supervisors along with peons amid tight security. The general public notices which were printed in both English and Hindi were being served in the presence of district magistrates and police.

The district administration of East Khasi Hills has also imposed section 144 CrPC prohibiting assembly of five or more persons within a radius of 2 km of Motphran and Sweeper’s Colony to prevent any untoward incident.

While most of the residents were seen receiving the notices, officials however pasted the same on the front doors of those houses which were found to be under lock and key.

In the notice, the SMB has called upon the general public who are claiming to be resident of Sweeper’s Colony to come forward to furnish information with regard to their possession of either piece of land building structure and the period of their occupation.

They are also requested to provide supporting documents if any for support of their claim of possession or residence.

It also stated that the object of collecting information as to the number of persons residing in Sweeper’s Colony and also their duration of occupation of stay is to prepare both long term and short term policy for resolving long pending issue pertaining to Sweeper’s Colony.

Speaking to reporters here, Board’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) SB Sohliya said that the exercise was based on the direction of the High Level Committee, which was constituted by the state government.

“All residents of the Sweeper’s Colony have been requested to come forward and furnish the information to the board’s office during working hours (10 am to 5 pm) from June 3 to July 3,” he said.

Sohliya further informed that the board will wait after one month and will accordingly submit a report to the High Level Committee.

According to him, the documents submitted to the board will be examined to know the number of legal and illegal settlers in the area.

Asked, the CEO said that as per the inventory survey conducted by the board last year, there are over 300 households in Sweeper’s Colony.