SHILLONG: In the internecine feud between Meghalaya and Assam over the inter-state border, the latter seems to have stolen a march by the simple tactic of offering concessions to villagers in registration of land.
Jirang MDC Victor Ranee of Congress said on Thursday that many of the villagers residing along the inter-State border are registering their land with Assam due to the flaws in the land registration system in Meghalaya. Some of these areas were included in the constituency of the MDC.
“The Assam Government has been able to prevail upon our people to register their land with them since they are registering the land for free,” Ranee said. On the other hand, poor villagers who were mainly farmers were finding it difficult to afford to register their land in Meghalaya since the process was “too expensive.”
According to him, one advantage of the policy adopted by the Assam Government was that the Assam authorities were registering the land of the villagers on the spot which was attracting the people to register their land with them.
The areas under his constituency where people were opting to register their land in Assam included Pillingkata, Iongkhuli, Umtyrnga and Maikhuli. The population in these areas was around 6,000, and the residents are mostly Karbis, Boros and Rabhas, he said.
Among other sops provided to the poor villagers, the Assam Government was also providing free electricity and drinking water, Ranee informed.
Listing out the flaws in the land registering system in Meghalaya, he said villagers often had to grease the palms of village authorities. “Even to get a simple land document (patta) from the respective village council and Dorbar Shnong, the villagers would have to give money to the Rangbah Shnong and the Executive Committee. If they would like to register their land with the Syiem, they would have to spend some more money which they cannot afford,” the Jirang MDC said.
He said that the other drawback was that the procedure for registration of land in Meghalaya was too lengthy, which was another reason why people were discouraged from registering their land in Meghalaya.
“During my election campaign, I have assured the people that if I am elected I would raise these issues before the Council,” Ranee said. There were many villagers who were ready to re-register their land in Meghalaya if the registration would be done for free, he added. The Council should take some measures to facilitate this, he said.