Legislator refers to Survey of India map to stake claim
NONGSTOIN: MLA of Boko under Kamrup District in Assam, Nandita Das on Friday conducted a spot inspection to Langpih and Umwali after untoward incidents were reported from the area when the Assam police tried to set up a Border Out Post at Umwali.
The Assam MLA said that the main intention for her visit to the disputed areas was to take stock of the situation in Langpih as it is getting worst and has asked both the chief ministers of the two states to hold talks and resolve the border issue.
During the inspection, she met the Assamese and Nepali communities residing at Lawbah village.
She also informed that the Assam government has sanctioned construction work at Umwali, but Meghalaya police are preventing Assam from proceeding. ‘According to the survey of India map all the villages under Langpih falls under Assam’, the Assam MLA claimed.
‘We want our land back and we don’t want any encroachment or communal clash here but we want peace in the area,’ she added.
Asking the Meghalaya police not to interfere and interrupt the construction of the BOP in the area, she pointed out that Meghalaya has no rights to claim that Langpih falls under disputed area because all the villages fall under Assam.
Meghalaya will have to look for the development of villages outside Langpih because, according to the Survey of India map, the villages Umtap, Langpih, Lower Langpih, Upper Langpih and Umwali fall under Assam, she said, adding that Assam is not encroaching into any land that is not under its jurisdiction.
MLA submits report
Meanwhile, the chairman of Meghalaya State Law Commission, Macmillan Byrsat, in a report to the chief minister, has narrated the whole story about the encroachment of Assam police with the intention to setup the BOP at Umwali and it was stopped by the state police.
Following the unwarranted incidents which had happened in the past and at present as well, Byrsat, who is also the MLA of Nongstoin, has sent a few suggestions.
Byrsat suggested that the state government should set up a permanent police outpost in the border areas of Langpih and Kyrshai, besides construction of road connectivity in the border areas connecting Rambrai with Langpih areas.
Another suggestion is to provide free electricity connection to the villages bordering Assam like Mawdiangsnam, Umiap, Domtiewsaw and Miangbyrkang which are neglected by the state government.
The report said the respective deputy commissioners should exempt the stamp duty for the people residing in the border areas during registration of land in their respective offices. Since many people living the border areas are underprivileged, exemption from stamp duty will further encourage them to register their lands in their respective Deputy Commissioners’ offices. The MLA also urged the government to set up a special committee comprising the state government and the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council to expeditiously study the border dispute especially the documents available with the state government and the KHADC and to give a concrete suggestion to the government.