GUWAHATI: A Jaintia Students’ Union (JSU) delegation recently visited Khanduli village along the West Jaintia Hills-West Karbi Anglong border and took stock of the problems faced by the residents.
The JSU members led by the union’s central body president, Laweyson War and general secretary, Jersom Shylla discussed burning issues related to the inter-state border with the headman of Khanduli village, Molin Rymmut along with other village heads and village defence personnel.
It may be recalled that foiled bids by Assam and Meghalaya police to set up temporary outposts along the boundary between West Karbi Anglong (Assam) and West Jaintia Hills had triggered tension among the residents in June.
“The discussion centred on the pillars along the Assam border and the Assam police outpost inside the Khanduli village, which the headman and the elders opposed tooth and nail. They claim that the hamlet is within Meghalaya and the region is under the jurisdiction of Saitsama police outpost in West Jaintia Hills,” JSU spokesperson, Treiborlang R Suchen, told The Shillong Times on Thursday.
Suchen said that according to the village headman, the presence of the Assam police outpost only “allowed people from Assam to encroach part of Khanduli or land belonging to Meghalaya and therefore must be shifted immediately to Rongpangbong in West Karbi Anglong where it was originally set up in the 1980s”.
The village headman, he said, also urged the Meghalaya government and local MLA, Sniawbhalang Dhar to intervene and visit the area.
For its part, the JSU will soon meet the Meghalaya chief minister and convey the problems faced by the border villagers.
“We would like to question the government as to how the Assam police outpost was set up inside Khanduli,” Suchen said, reiterating that chief minister-level talks between Assam and Meghalaya were imperative to resolve the inter-state boundary issues at the earliest.
Meghalaya has been demanding transfer of Block I and Block II of Karbi Anglong to the state. On September 7, 2018 the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) had raised the same demand.