SHILLONG, Sep 19: The Meghalaya and Assam governments seem to have gone quiet on the constitution of the boundary committees after the two chief ministers set the ball rolling for the second phase of talks to resolve the dispute almost a month ago.
The committees to study and record the views of the stakeholders in the remaining six of the 12 disputed sectors were supposed to have been constituted within 15 days of the talks held in Guwahati on August 21.
Renikton Lyngdoh Tongkhar, who was the chairman of the previous regional committee for West Khasi Hills, on Monday said he is yet to know about the constitution of the regional committees.
“West Khasi Hills benefitted in the first phase. We expect that the state will also benefit in the second phase, although time is running out,” he said.
Asked if there will be any new strategy for the second phase, he said the topmost priority should be given to the will of the border residents. “We want the people who are staying in those areas to be happy,” he added.
Pointing out that the MDA Government showed courage and intent in resolving the 50-year-old issue, Tongkhar refused to accept that Meghalaya lost out in the first phase. “There can never be a perfect solution,” he said.
Many villagers residing in the six sectors resolved in the first phase continue to protest the memorandum of agreement signed between the two states on March 29 in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi. They want the agreement to be revisited.
Claiming that most of the people are happy with the settlement, Tongkhar insisted there can never be “cent per cent satisfaction” while dealing with a sensitive and emotional issue.
Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma and his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma are expected to visit the major disputed areas in the second phase together as a “goodwill gesture”. Among the remaining areas, Block I & Block II and Langpih are widely regarded as the most sensitive sectors.
Apart from these two areas, the “complicated” disputed areas to be discussed in the second phase are Khanduli & Psiar, Borduar, Nongwah-Mawtamur and Desh Doomreah.
The representatives of Assam’s Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council will be involved in the discussion process.
Sangma had recently asserted that members of the autonomous district councils of the state would be part of the border panels.
