SHILLONG:

A heated argument broke out between two communities at disputed Block I area of West Jaintia Hills, bordering West Karbi-Anglong in Assam, on April 17, after a group of people belonging to the Karbi community allegedly tried to plant broom grass on a land owned by a Jaintia family.

It was reported that the land belongs to a Jaintia family of Moojem village in Mooliber area, which is under the jurisdiction of the Raliang Police Outpost.

According to sources, the issue was personal; it was a dispute between two families, belonging to the Pnar and Karbi communities, over a plot of land.

It was informed that a few members of a Karbi family had previously approached a Jaintia family to lease out the cultivated land to them.

When the Pnar family refused, the Karbi family allegedly attempted to forcibly plant broom grass in that land, peadin to a heated argument, involving people from both communities.

The issue could have been worse hadn’t it not been for the presence of police personnel in the area, sources said.