By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The West Khasi Hills district administration has been directed to take stock of the law and order situation in view of the indefinite fast-unto-death call by Pynskhemlang Nongshlong which will be held in front of Memorial Stone in Langpih from Saturday.
“I have directed West Khasi Hills Deputy Commissioner S Kharlyngdoh to ensure that there is no breakdown in the law and order situation following the decision of the young man to hold this fast unto death,” Home Minister HDR Lyngdoh told reporters here on Friday.
Lyngdoh said that the Deputy Commissioner had in fact tried to convince the young man to call off his fast-unto-death decision.
“But it seems that he (Pynskhemlang) is unwilling to call of the agitation. If he wants to go ahead then the Government cannot intervene,” he said.
When asked if he would personally request the young man to call off his proposed agitation, the Home Minister said that the situation does not demand such a move since the matter was being handled by the DC.
“The fact is that at the moment the Government cannot give any assurance since the matter of resolving the long-pending boundary dispute is still under negotiations at the level of the chief secretaries of both Meghalaya and Assam,” Lyngdoh added.
Relating to the deployment of more forces in Langpih, he said that the district administration would continuously review the situation and if required additional forces would be deployed.
Meanwhile, the North East Student’s Organization (NESO) publicity and information secretary Samuel Jyrwa said that it was very unfortunate that a stage has reached wherein a person has to take a drastic call for fast-unto-death to seek a solution to the long-pending boundary dispute.
“It is the State Government’s responsibility to take up the issue with Assam. We condemn the State Government for failing to address the issue which has been lying pending for more than 40 years,” Jyrwa said.
“Had the State Government taken up this issue seriously, local villagers residing along the inter-State border areas like Langpih, Khanduli and other areas in Block I and II would not have suffered so much,” he added.
He recalled that both the KSU and the All Assam Students’ Association (AASU) had been pursuing the issue with the respective state governments for a long time now.
Earlier, Pynskhemlang of Rambrai village in West Khasi Hills district had stated that if both the state governments fail to take concrete steps to resolve the boundary dispute in the next 24 days then he would go ahead with his decision to embark on a fast-unto-death from June 30 onwards.