NONGPOH, Aug 26: The Ri Bhoi district authorities and their West Karbi Anglong counterparts in Assam held a joint meeting on Thursday for maintaining peace and harmony in the disputed Block-II area, especially Umlaper village where tension had run high for two days in a row.
The meeting was held at Sabuda village, as the officials could not visit Umlaper due to the prevailing tension. Officials on either side of the interstate boundary unanimously decided not to allow any visitors from both the states to visit the Block-II area with immediate effect in order to prevent any law-and-order problem.
While the Ri Bhoi team was led by Deputy Commissioner RM Kurbah and Superintendent of Police N. Lamare, their counterparts Utpala Saikia and Ajagwran Basumatary led the West Karbi Anglong team.
Kurbah told reporters that Wednesday’s incident could have been avoided had the people from Meghalaya understood the complexity of the situation along the border. A visit by some 100 members of the Hynniewtrep Youth Council (HYC) had reportedly triggered trouble on Wednesday.
The HYC team had apparently gone to assess the situation after a minor conflict in the Umlaper area on Tuesday involving the Assam police. The issue had been sorted out by officials of both districts.
“We decided that no one from either Meghalaya or Assam will be allowed to visit Umlaper and the Block-II areas from now on. The police from Mawlasnai outpost have been instructed to set up a gate like the one on the Assam side,” Kurbah said.
“It has also been decided that for the time being no developmental work shall be taken up in these disputed areas and that both sides shall maintain the status quo till the two governments come up with a new resolution,” she added. She advised the people to respect the “serious steps” taken by the two state governments to resolve the long-pending border dispute and wait for relevant notifications to let the local people live in peace and harmony without any interference from outside.
Kurbah said the Block-II area has 18 villages that are quite far and difficult to reach for officials of both the Ri-Bhoi and West Karbi Anglong districts. The local people may thus suffer if any untoward incident happens due to the visit of any group of people from either state, she pointed out.
The trouble started on August 23 when the Assam police personnel allegedly assaulted three youths of Umlaper village. Angry villagers gheraoed a temporary Assam police camp and vandalised a temporary police check gate in the village.
The MDC of Mawhati and Ri-Bhoi district officials visited the area on August 24 in a bid to cool tempers. The situation eased after the Assam police personnel accused of assaulting the youths apologised and agreed to bear their medical expense besides agreeing to withdraw from the village during the day.
