| GUWAHATI: The Hynniewtrep Border Dispute Redressal Forum has sought the intervention of the Meghalaya government to prevent alleged attempts by Assam police to “intimidate and disrupt” the process of Aadhaar enrolment at Ummat village, Block-1, near the inter-state border.
In a letter to the Meghalaya chief secretary on Friday, the forum alleged that Assam police personnel attempted to intimidate and disrupt the process by force, “wherein they had told the villagers that the enrolment for Aadhaar cannot be done by the government of Meghalaya, as the area fell under the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council of Assam.” “As per information received from our members and the villagers, the enrolment for Aadhaar was being carried out by the district administration at Ummat Village, Block-1 on Thursday, when the development took place,” HBDRF senior spokesperson, Thomas Passah said. “Such incidents are not new and strange and people of Meghalaya are harassed like this from time to time, which we strongly oppose,” Passah said. The villagers and the Dorbar Shnong, he said, have however defied the aggressive intimidation by Assam police on Thursday and that the Aadhaar enrolment process continued on Friday as well. “However, there is a fear that the Assam police personnel could come again more aggressively at any time. Therefore we kindly request that necessary protection measures be taken and Meghalaya Police personnel deployed so that the enrolment can be carried out without the occurrence of any untoward incident(s),” Passah wrote in the letter to the chief secretary. It may be noted that the Assam government had on January 9, 2020, initiated a programme for Aadhaar enrolment in the same village, which was opposed by the villagers and the Rangbah Shnong/Rangbah Dong. The HBDRF had submitted a written complaint against the move to the Meghalaya chief secretary the next day. |
