By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Assam will declare ‘dry days’ for three consecutive days till February 23 in the bordering districts and will also take other preventive measures to ensure free and fair polls in the bordering areas of Meghalaya.
Ahead of the scheduled polls on February 23, Meghalaya DGP Kulbir Krishan and Chief Secretary WMS Pariat met their counterparts in Dispur on Thursday to discuss the need to ensure free and fair polls in the disputed border areas.
An official source said on Friday that Assam agreed to declare dry day on February 21, 22 and 23 to make sure that the polls in Meghalaya are free from any nuisance.
Both Assam and Meghalaya do not want to see a repeat of Langpih firing incident.
It was on May 14, 2010 that four Khasi villagers were killed and 12 others injured when Assam police personnel opened fire in the disputed area of Langpih in West Khasi Hills bordering Assam.
Both the Governments also want to make sure that the political parties do not rake up the issue of border dispute in the run up to the election for the sake of political mileage.
The meeting also discussed the need to maintain peace in Langpih and other areas along the Assam-Meghalaya border.
During the meeting Assam assured full cooperation to Meghalaya in maintaining law and order in the border areas.
Meanwhile, it was decided that the Election department officials of both Assam and Meghalaya will meet on February 7 in Shillong to ensure that there is peaceful polling in the border areas of the State, an official said.