Shillong/Nongpoh:
Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, on Monday, said that March 27 has been fixed as a tentative date for the signing of tripartite agreement between Centre, Meghalaya and Assam to resolve six out of the 12 areas of contention between the two states.
“The signing of this agreement and the final discussion with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) will take place within this month itself. The tentative date which has come to me is March 27. Therefore, all the cabinet colleagues and officials who are involved in this will be going to Delhi to mark this very important occasion,” Sangma said while replying to the budget discussion in the Assembly.
The Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the Chief Ministers of Assam and Meghalaya on January 29 and was submitted to the Union Home Minister Amit Shah on January 31, for examination and consideration of the MHA.
Stating that the boundary dispute has been pending for a very long time, Sangma however said the MDA government has been decisive and clear that the issue has to be resolved.
“There is no reason why the people in the border area have to continue suffering the way they have been. Therefore, the government has decided that we will move forward and that is the reason why today, we are on the verge of signing this agreement for the first six locations,” he said.
The MoU signed between the two states, however, hasn’t gone down well with the traditional heads of Hima Jirang and Hima Nongspung in Ri Bhoi and student bodies such as the Khasi Students’ Union (KSU).
The Himas have expressed their discontentment towards the agreement saying they aren’t in favour of Meghalaya government handing over certain areas along the border to Assam as a part of the settlement. They also said that the government took the decision without consulting the stakeholders.
In this regard, subsequent to the MoU signing, the Himas wrote a complaint to the Regional Committee, the office of the Deputy Commissioner Ri-Bhoi District and the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) against the government’s decision.
President of the KSU central executive committee (CEC), Lambokstar Marngar, on Monday, said that the hurry the state government is in to sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Assam, it seems like the government wants to score some political brownie points of it.
”The government is misleading the people of the state by saying that of the 36 villages in the first six areas, 30 will be under Meghalaya and only six will go to Assam. But when we look at the overall areas, the six villages are massive,” he said, adding that the government formed the regional committees without consulting the Himas, the villagers or even the Khasi Hills Autonomous Council.