By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: UDP legislator Paul Lyngdoh has demanded for a complete report on the steps taken by the Government to resolve the long pending boundary dispute with Assam in the next Assembly session.
“I would want Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma to make a categorical assurance that he would table a complete report in the floor of the House in the next session,” Lyngdoh said before withdrawing the resolution he had moved to recommend to the Parliament of India for making a suitable amendment of the North East Re-Organization Act, 1971 to facilitate the inclusion of villages under Block I and II into the State of Meghalaya in the Assembly on Thursday.
Earlier, while requesting Lyngdoh to withdraw the resolution, Chief Minister said that it would not be appropriate to pass another resolution for transfer of the Block I and Block II to Meghalaya since the House on March 16, 2011 had already passed a resolution for the constitution of the Boundary Commission.
In the resolution passed in the House earlier, besides the 12 areas of differences, the issue of transferring Block I and Block II was also included, Dr Sangma said.
“Passing another resolution would only complicate the issue. It would be better we stick to our demand on the need to resolve the 12 areas of differences including Block I and Block II,” the Chief Minister said while adding that adopting and passing another Resolution as proposed by the UDP legislator would prompt a counter Resolution by Assam as seen in the recent past and lead to hardening of positions, without yielding any positive results.
While referring to the resolution adopted by the Assembly on March 16, 2011, Dr Sangma said that the Assembly had unanimously resolved to urge upon the Union to constitute a Boundary Commission as early as possible to define the inter-State boundary between Meghalaya and Assam.
“Subsequently, the Assam Assembly also passed a Resolution opposing setting up of a Boundary Commission. Since no feedback was received from the Ministry of Home Affairs on our Resolution, I took up the matter with the Union Home Minister on August 2012, requesting him to intervene in the matter and to constitute the Boundary Commission on priority basis so that a lasting solution to this long pending problem is found,” the Chief Minister informed.
Meanwhile, in reply to the resolution, the Chief Minister said that the issue of Block I and II has been agitated upon almost since the time India became a republic and even when the State was a part of composite Assam.
“Successive Governments in Meghalaya have been pursuing this matter ever since the inception of the State. This only suggests that the issue is not amenable to easy solution. However, that should not and indeed does not detract the present Government from pursuing it ever more vigorously,” Dr Sangma said.
He also reiterated with the Government will take all possible measures to find a final and logical solution to the issue.
On the transfer of Block I and Block II areas to Assam, he said that during the early part of 1951, the Government of Assam carved out two huge chunks of the Jowai Sub-Division (now Jaintia Hills District) of the then United Khasi and Jaintia Hills District and tagged them with the Mikir Hills Autonomous District (now Karbi Anglong District) vide a Government notification.
“The transfer of these areas, which are known as Block-I and Block-Il, was resented by the inhabitants as there was no common bond in terms of either race or language with the people of the newly created district of Mikir Hills. Agitation demanding for the transfer of the two blocks back to the Jaintia Hills District commenced soon after the notification was issued and continues till date,” Chief Minister informed.
After the creation of Meghalaya as a separate State, Dr Sangma said that differences emerged over the inter-State boundary in other sectors as well.
“Ever since the first meeting between the chief ministers of the two States in 1971, a common view has been taken that the comparative population of Mikirs (Karbis) and Jaintias in two Blocks should be accepted as the guiding criterion in deciding the issues,” he said.
The Chief Minister informed that a Joint Official Committee was constituted in 1983 to sort out this problem and it recommended that the matter relating to Block I and II may be resolved at the Chief Minister’s level since it involved transfer of territory and not interpretation of the inter-State boundary as such.
“There is no denying the fact that people inhabiting in a sizeable portion of Block I and II belong to the same ethnic group as the people inhabiting in Meghalaya and, therefore, that area should be transferred to the State,” Dr Sangma asserted.
The Union Home Minister had convened a meeting of the two Chief Ministers where it was agreed that the ongoing dialogue at the Chief Secretary level should be carried forward expeditiously and Nodal Officers should be designated by both the States to assist the Chief Secretaries.
“The Nodal Officers of both the States met on the October 20, 2012 and again on 31st October, 2012 where issues regarding resumption of developmental works along the inter-State boundary were taken up, without prejudice to the claims of either party,” the Chief Minister informed while assuring the House
that the Government would continue to aggressively engage with the Government of Assam through discussions and deliberations and keep the Central Government posted on developments as and when required to resolve the dispute.