SHILLONG, March 14: Opposition Congress on Sunday advised the state government to constantly engage itself with the Assam government to resolve the boundary disputes between the two states.
It expressed concern over the “gap” in the discussions and warned that this could aggravate the situation.
Blaming anomalies during the creation of Meghalaya for the row, Congress MLA from Umroi, George B Lyngdoh said, “Earlier, there was constant engagement at the political level but there is now a sudden gap. It must not stop.”
He said the Congress has been constantly urging the state government to carry forward the engagement. A series of discussions were held in the past and it took a lot of efforts, he said.
In 1985, the two states had assigned Justice YV Chandrachud to head a committee for boundary demarcation. Assam claimed Langpih based on the panel’s recommendations.
However, Meghalaya rejected the committee’s report.
Lyngdoh cautioned, “If you don’t hold the discussions with your counterpart, then things will definitely aggravate and you will find yourself back to where you started from.”
Another Congress legislator, Kimfa Marbaniang, under whose constituency lies the disputed Langpih, said, “The main agenda of the state government at the time of its installation in 2018 was to solve the border issue. However, it now appears that the issue has disappeared from the list of its priorities.”
“We had demanded a police outpost in the border areas for the security of the locals but the government seems to be not bothered about it,” he added.
Meghalaya became a full-fledged state on January 21, 1972. Since then, the inter-state boundary, as established under the North Eastern Areas (Re-Organisation) Act, 1971, has been a point of contention between the two states.
The 12 disputed areas are Upper Tarabari, Gazang Reserve Forest, Hahim, Langpih, Borduar, Boklapara, Nongwah, Matamur, Khanapara-Pilangkata, Deshdemoreah Block I and Block II, Khanduli and Retacherra.