SHILLONG:
The Hynniewtrep National Youth Front (HNYF), on March 29, said that the regional committees didn’t consult the people residing along the Meghalaya-Assam border “properly” when they visited the areas before making the recommendations on six areas of disputes to the government.
Claiming that majority of the people residing in the border areas are not indigenous people of Meghalaya, the president of HNYF, Sadon Blah, accused the Assam government of “pushing” its residents to these areas to encroach the state’s land.
“In most of the cases, they were people who Assam has pushed to the borders because it is interested in capturing portions of borderland that are with Meghalaya. Therefore, they (regional committees) didn’t do their consultation properly,” said Blah, during a press conference on Tuesday.
The HYNF president also said that even the traditional heads, like that of the Dorbar of Hima Mylliem, had shown resentment towards the MoU signed by the governments of Meghalaya and Assam.
Stating that HNYF will stand firm with the indigenous residents of the border areas and their will, Blah said, “We will oppose if the government parts away the portions of Meghalaya’s land as against the wishes of the people.”
He said that mere signing of the border pact does not mean that the chapter is closed because realigning of the states’ border as per the Constitution, a resolution has to be passed in both the Houses of Parliament.
Blah also said that if residents of the border villages feel that they have incurred huge loss following the agreement, the pressure groups will support and protest alongside them and make sure they don’t part with even an inch of their land.