NONGPOH: The move of the Assam government to encroach into the territory of Meghalaya was foiled on Saturday following protests from landowners and locals and also due to the presence of a magistrate from Ri Bhoi.
According to sources, a magistrate from Assam accompanied by 10 buses full of CRPF and Rapid Action Force personnel, numbering around 400, visited Pahambarngi Barapathar near Umtyrnga in Ri Bhoi with the intention of erecting boundary pillars and using the area as a dumping site.
However, strong resistance from the landowner, Lumlang Shylla, along with other villagers and the arrival of a magistrate from Nongpoh along with forces from the Umtyrnga police outpost foiled the Assam move.
As per the locals, the Assam government through the office of the Guwahati Municipal Corporation and the Land Survey Records had earlier conducted a survey covering an area of 12 acres for using it as a waste dumping site.
Locals informed that earlier a village road constructed under MGNREGA was implemented in the village, however, one non-tribal resident of the area, identified as Tito Majumdar opposed and lodged a complaint with the Assam authorities and the scheme had to be stopped.
They also alleged that sudden move of the Assam government to use brute force in erecting boundary pillars at the village by bringing in hundreds of CRPF and RAF personnel is because of the fact that Majumdar was acting at the behest of the Assam government and was trying to illegally encroach into the territory of Meghalaya.
The villagers and landowners urged the concerned authority as well the state government to take
immediate steps in ensuring that this kind of incident should not be repeated while at the same time urged the government to take serious note of this incident and to solve the long pending boundary issue at the earliest so that the villagers residing in border areas will not be affected in the future.
