SHILLONG: The Coordination Committee on International Border (CCIB), which is pursuing the issue of fencing the Indo-Bangla border on zero line and not 150 yards inside the Indian territory, has alleged that fencing has been done inside the 150 yards in areas from Nongjri to Lyngkhat recently.
CCIB Secretary Kmen Myrchiang said that some sordars may have agreed to the fencing inside the 150 yards, but the genuine land owners have not.
Stating that the CCIB will raise the issue, he added that people in Meghalaya are losing their land unknowingly, adding that the CCIB does not object the fencing of the border but want the border to be demarcated properly.
Stating that the matter pertaining to fencing the border from zero line was taken up with the Centre long time ago, he said the Committee would continue to raise the matter continuously.
“Our stand is clear and we want the Centre and the state government to respect the 1958 Nehru- Noon agreement and the 1975 Indo-Bangla border agreement,” he said, while recalling that a joint survey was conducted in Meghalaya back in 2006-07 where the state government had passed an order that the fencing needs to be kept in abeyance till the time the boundary is rectified.
He said that as per the 1958 Nehru-Noon agreement, the existing boundary between India and Bangladesh is temporary and the boundary needs to be rectified with the consent of the land owners.
“Once we have a permanent boundary, the sufferings of the people will be over,” he said.
Meanwhile, as far as the recent alleged intrusion of Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) troopers in Meghalaya is concerned, he said the incident has happened and BGB did intrude into the territory of the state.
He also alleged the BSF did not do anything even though the BGB came and shouted at the people. To support his claim that the BGB intruded into Meghalaya, the CCIB leader also forwarded some video clips to the journalists. He added that the videos regarding the instruction of BGB were put online in social media and it is there for people to see.
As per the media reports, last month, Armed personnel of the Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) intruded into Muktapur village and threatened the Indian villagers to stop construction of an internal road.
