SHILLONG:
The border residents of Ri-Bhoi district affected by the recent agreement to resolve the boundary dispute with Assam in a memorandum submitted to Chief Minister Conrad Sangma stated that even before Meghalaya attained statehood, areas under the jurisdiction of Mylliem Syiemship claimed by the Kamrup district had compelled the then Assam government to constitute a Border Committee on July 12, 1967.
The Border Committee was headed by the respective deputy commissioners of Kamrup and Khasi & Jaintia Hills to settle the inter-district boundary in the Basistha-Khanapara sector as described in Definition XIX of the Government of India Notification No.1430 dated 14th September, 1876.
The memorandum stated that the committee after conducting meticulous ground survey and careful examination of official records, documents, maps, statements, memoranda, was satisfied that the correct inter-district boundary in the Basistha Khanapara sector is the same that is shown in the official maps of the Survey of India from 1876 along which the required boundary pillars also exist.
“But surprisingly, now the state government of Meghalaya without the knowledge and concurrence of the Mylliem Syiemship has arbitrarily agreed to hand over large territories along the Basistha-Khanapara under Mylliem Syiemship to Assam through the recently signed MoU in total disregard to the above mentioned government of India Notification of 1876 and the Report of the Govt. of Assam, 1967,” the memorandum stated.
The memorandum also informed that after Meghalaya got its statehood in 1972 it was specified that the new state will comprise the territories under the United Khasi and Jaintia Hills District as described in Sub-Para (2) of Para 20 of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India and the Garo Hills District as specified in Para A.
The territories constitutionally constituting the United Khasi and Jaintia Hills District from west to east became the inter-state boundary between Meghalaya and Assam which consist of and comprise tribal areas as defined by eight notifications.
It stated that however, the three Regional Committees appointed to find a permanent solution to the boundary issue did not follow the official notifications in letter and spirit relating to the constitutional territories that constituted the various Khasi Syiemships but relied on the five parameters.
The five parameters prescribed by the governments of Assam and Meghalaya are – historical facts, ethnicity, administrative convenience, geographical continuity and the sentiments/willingness of the local people.
The memorandum stated that even though, all the villages under various Syiemships satisfied all the five criteria but the failure to follow the government of India notifications concerning the territories and ground demarcation resulted in a number of villages, some of which are not even in the disputed list, to be included in Assam.
“These lapses will permanently destroy the custom, usage and practice of the various tribal people existing in various border villages and Raids of different Khasi Syiemships since time immemorial. Many villages now will become under the direct general administration of the State of Assam and outside the jurisdiction of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution of India,” the memorandum stated.
The memorandum also stated that it is an irony that tribals living in the border villages had been steadily losing their lands over the years due to forceful encroachment and land grabbing by non-tribal people with the tacit support of the Assam, and the government of Meghalaya cannot do anything against such illegal acts or sue the Assam as land in Meghalaya belongs to tribal individuals, clans, community and Syiemship.
It also stated that the government of Meghalaya through the MoU intended to transfer large tribal territories measuring more than 18.51 Sq Km/4,574 acres to the state of Assam without the knowledge, consent and concurrence of the tribal landowners, traditional institution and also the district council as mandated by law.
The memorandum also stated that the signing of MoU against the will of the local people will further create additional contentious
issues which will create unnecessary tension, dissatisfaction and mistrust all along the Meghalaya-Assam boundary and should be avoided at all cost.