NONGPOH:
The voices of resentment against the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between Meghalaya and Assam to resolve the decades-old border issue seem to have refused to die down in Ri Bhoi. On May 28, elders of 18 villages from Block II attended a gathering at Mawlasnai village to demand a revision of the pact signed between the two states.
Organised by Joint Action Committee Border of Meghalaya (JACBoM), a conglomeration of NGOs, chiefs from all the three tribes of Khasi, Jaintia and Garo Hills, to deliberate on the grievances faced by the border residents, the participants of the meeting expressed dissatisfaction over the government’s way of handling things.
“The people of the state will never be satisfied with the first phase of MoU. It needs to be reviewed before heading to the second phase,” said chairman of the committee, advocate Erwin Sutnga.
Stating that the border MoU does not have any “legal status”, Sutnga said, the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government ignored many “aspects” while formulating the agreement and signed it in a jiffy. “And hence has no basis under the constitution or the law,” Sutnga reiterated.
The meeting was attended by member of district council of Mawhati constituency Charles Marngar, representatives of pressure groups such as the Meghalaya People Social Organisation (MPSO), United Hynniewtrep Movement (UHM), Hynniewtrep Achik National Movement (HANM), Khasi Students’ Union (KSU), Meghalaya Youths Forum (MYF) and Ri Bhoi Youths Organisation (RBYO), among others.
Notably, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, on May 25, had said that he and his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma will soon commence the second phase of dialogue to resolve the remaining six areas of difference along the inter-state boundary.