From Our Correspondent
NONGSTOIN, July 7: Members of the Regional Committee to examine the status of the disputed area in the Langpih sector met with the Syiems, Sirdars, and prominent NGOs of West Khasi Hills on Friday to discuss various issues related to resolving the Assam-Meghalaya boundary dispute.
The team led by Social Welfare Minister Paul Lyngdoh included MLAs Renikton Tongkhar and Remington Momin, KHADC members P.N. Syiem and Bajop Pyngrope, and ex-legislator KP Pangniang.
Lyngdoh, the chairman of the committee, told reporters that the discussions were aimed at getting feedback from the local stakeholders before carrying out an inspection in the Langpih sector. The NGOs, he said, included the KSU, HYC, FKJGP, WKSU, and HITO.
“Representatives of 41 villages attended the meeting that was very successful,” he said, adding that the people of these 41 out of the 52 villages in the Langpih area are willing to stay in Meghalaya.
Residents of the other nine villages want to be a part of Assam, he said.
Lyngdoh also said that the committee would also carry out a joint inspection along with the counterpart committee from Assam later in July.
Tongkhar said the committee decided to consider ethnicity and the willingness of people to be in Meghalaya and hoped the Assam government would respect these factors.
Pyngrope said the nine villages in the Langpih sector want to be in Assam because a majority of the inhabitants belong to the Rabha community.
“Based on the 2011 census, these nine villages were not in Meghalaya and their residents had petitioned the West Khasi Hills district administration expressing their unwillingness to be a part of Meghalaya,” he said.
He also said the people of these villages possess voter cards issued by Assam and have received benefits from the Assam government.