WJH, West Karbi Anglong hold meet to iron out issues

JOWAI, April 19: The district administrations of West Jaintia Hills and West Karbi Anglong on Wednesday held a meeting at Jowai to deliberate over the measures needed to address the interstate border issues.
The West Karbi Anglong district of Assam was represented by its Deputy Commissioner Krishna Baruah, as well as the Superintendent of Police and the Assistant Commissioner.
Addressing reporters here, West Jaintia Hills Deputy Commissioner BS Sohliya informed that regional committees have been constituted for both the districts.
“As the district administrations, our main priority is to ensure that there is no law and order problem in the border villages. It is not in our mandate to discuss on the boundary issue and it is two regional committees who will need to take a lead on this,” Sohliya said.
He further informed that the district administration of Karbi Anglong will hold a meeting with the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) on Thursday to brief the latter on the decisions taken during Wednesday’s meeting.
Sohliya also assured that both the district administrations will take all possible steps to maintain peace and tranquility along the border villages.
“We will be staking our claim on the areas falling under Meghalaya as per map, which is available with the government. As per the map, Khanduli area is still a very part of Meghalaya,” he said.
It may be mentioned that the villagers of Khanduli village in West Jaintia Hills had recently destroyed the signboard put up by the KAAC in their territory in the presence of officials of both the district administrations.
The signboard bore the words ‘Khanduli Entry Tax Gate’, which was put up by the KAAC in a location within the territory of Khanduli village.