UDP working prez asks why state agrees to joint IAS cadre

SHILLONG, Dec 26: United Democratic Party (UDP) working president Paul Lyngdoh on Monday questioned the Meghalaya’s willingness for a joint IAS cadre with Assam despite being bifurcated decades ago.
“I fail to understand why it (Meghalaya) agrees to have the same cadre with Assam which is bigger in size and more resourceful,” Lyngdoh said while speaking to The Shillong Times.
According to Lyngdoh, the state needs officers who are free from being influenced.
Elaborating on his argument, he said if an IPS officer, who heads the state police as the DGP, leads a police battalion to take action and arrest encroachers from Assam, “how will the Assam government treat such IPS officer if he is again posted in Guwahati?”
Lyngdoh opined that Meghalaya should have tied up with smaller states.
“Why not a joint cadre with Mizoram and Nagaland as they are tribal states and also officially communicate in English. I fail to understand why such ideas have not come up in these past 50 years,” he said.
When asked about the interstate boundary dispute with Assam, the UDP working president said that Meghalaya has always been perceived as a weak state.
According to him, the problem would not have arisen if the Himas had preserved the land documents and records dating back to the British rule.
Lyngdoh also alleged that there are some Himas where the Syiem Raid act as agents for selling and registering of land to Assam.
“There are so many things which made the interstate boundary issue complicated. If we have to resolve now then one of the parameters was to ensure that we have the land records,” Lyngdoh said. Talking about the revenue land in Siatsohpen, Sohra, the UDP working president said the British had taken the land from Hima Sohra for setting up of offices, circuit house and police stations.
In exchange, the British had given a plot to Hima Sohra at Sylhet. “But no one knows what happened to that plot. What is the use of having the land documents if we no longer have the possession of the land,” Lyngdoh questioned.
He then argued about the consequences if one of the two chief ministers during the border talks says they can keep the land documents since the land is in their possession. “I hope we are not pushing to such kind of position,” the UDP working president added.