SHILLONG, Jan 7: Amid the ongoing Phase II of the border talks between Assam and Meghalaya government, the HSPDP on Sunday made an appeal to the state government to push for so roping in all 53 villages under the disputed Langpih sector.
Speaking to The Shillong Times, HSPDP president KP Pangniang, who is also the former local MLA of the area, said that the Meghalaya government had submitted the list of 53 villages to the Assam government in the year 2011.
“We would need to verify if these 53 villages still exist. But we should try to see that all these villages comes to Meghalaya,” Pangniang, who is also a member of the West Khasi Hills regional committee, said.
He, however, said that the committee will have a clearer picture once there is a joint inspection by the two regional committees.
Earlier, Chairman of the Regional Committee for West Khasi Hills, Paul Lyngdoh, had said that Meghalaya has officially claimed jurisdiction over 61 villages in Langpih sector.
The Regional Committees of both Meghalaya and Assam are set to deliver their final reports following a joint visit to the villages in West Khasi Hills under the Langpih sector.
The 61 villages primarily house Khasi and Garo populations, with some having a mixed demography and a few others inhabited by Nepali residents.
He had said that after the joint visit, the regional committees of the two states will be in a position to submit the final reports to their respective chief ministers.
Lyngdoh had said that the first approach will be to first resolve matters relating to big clusters of villages as few villages which are dominated by non-Khasis and non-Garos are smaller in number.
“So we will look at the bigger picture confined to the problem-free areas first, and these will go on the basis of contiguity for instance,” he said.
He had also stated that there are over 200 villages under Langpih sector but the problem persists in roughly 54 of them.
“In a few cases, at least 7-8 such villages have also expressed their willingness to be with Assam but majority of these 54 villages would like to stay with Meghalaya,” he added.
“Our documentation is very strong. We will go strictly by the documentation that we have. The maps, the land documents, the list of developmental schemes implemented – all these are already part and parcel of the claim. So at the strength of these documents alone, we are in a very strong fitting,” he said.
