From Our Correspondent
TURA: A Meghalaya delegation comprising of Garo MLAs and government officials from North Garo Hills district on Friday morning held a meeting with Assam officials and the All Assam Minority Students’ Union (AAMSU) to try and get normalcy restored at the earliest and prevent any possible threat of economic blockade as warned by the neighbouring state’s student body.
Four MLAs from Garo Hills along with North Garo Hills DC, W Khyllep, and district Superintendent of Police, Ricky Dkhar, met at Dudhnoi town with the Assam delegation which included Dudhnoi MLA Shivcharan Basumatary, Goalpara DC and SP, senior citizens and the AAMSU delegation led by its general secretary Azizur Rahman.
The team from Meghalaya — MLAs Cherak W Momin, Ropul Marak, Michael T Sangma and James Pangsang K Sangma — in their meeting stressed on the need for peace and return of normalcy to the region.
They also mentioned about the positive steps being taken by the Meghalaya government to ensure security of the people, particularly for those coming from the other state for work in the Garo Hills.
The AAMSU delegation, on the other hand, has demanded a judicial probe into all killings of workers of Assam in Garo Hills in the recent past and sought an increase in ex-gratia payment to the families of the deceased and the injured.
As a goodwill gesture the AAMSU has put on hold their proposed economic blockade of NH-51 through Paikan and NH-62 through Damra which brings in supplies into the five districts of Garo Hills.
Prior to the meeting, the AAMSU had called for a blockade of NH-51 from 11 am to 4 pm on Friday but later scaled it down to 2 pm after a positive outcome of the talks.
“They have demanded a judicial probe to killings of migrant workers in Garo Hills in the last few months, raise the ex-gratia to Rs 10 lakh for the deceased and Rs 5 lakh for those injured. They have also sought a meeting with Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma,” said MLA Ropul Marak while speaking to The Shillong Times after the meeting at Dudhnoi.
He added that the AAMSU delegation has given time until July 1 for a positive response to their demands which have also been forwarded to Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde through the Goalpara district administration.
“We have appealed to the people of Assam bordering our state to maintain peace and called on the AAMSU to call off their proposed blockade. We also stressed on the need for a separate engagement between the administrations of Goalpara and North Garo Hills to maintain peace,” said MLA James Pangsang K Sangma.
The Meghalaya delegation expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the meeting with the Assam delegation and later went on to hold a peace meeting at Tikrikilla, the same evening.