Shillong, Aug 14:The Hynñiewtrep Border Dispute Redressal Forum (HBDRF) on Thursday said that residents living in Block 1, disputed by Assam and Meghalaya but occupied by the former, comprising around 36 Khasi-Pnar villages, do not possess birth certificates or voter ID, Aadhaar or other documents.
The HBDRF has thus urged the Meghalaya government to immediately recognise and include villages under Elaka Labang Nangphyllut across all state departments and for electoral purposes.
“It is for this reason these villagers are facing difficulties. Many children have to drop out of school and those wanting to proceed for higher studies in colleges and universities don’t have documents have to discontinue and also those in search of employment and even daily wagers have to miss out, since many dorbar shnongs asks for EPICs (voter identification cards),” HBDRF chairman Chandame Sungoh said after meeting Chief Secretary Donald P Wahlang.
The forum submitted a memorandum to the Chief Secretary urging the Meghalaya government to include and recognise the villages of Elaka Labang-Nongphyllut, of Block 1 listed in Annexure C of the Joint Enquiry Proceedings conducted between the United Khasi and Jaintia Hills District Council and United Cachar and Mikir Hills District Council on February 17-23, 1958 as per the Assam government dated November 5, 1957.
The forum noted that the Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council (JHADC) has already reunited and officially notified the Elaka, appointed Acting Dolloi Prolin Samayang, and issued sanads to the concerned headmen through a notification dated June 27, 2024.
In the memorandum to the government, the HBDRF stated that despite these clear historical, legal and administrative foundations – supported by official maps and boundary demarcations approved during the Joint Enquiry Proceedings the villages continue to suffer from complete exclusions from the governance, development and electoral systems of Meghalaya.
Calling the situation unjust and unsustainable, the Forum appealed for a formal notification to bring the villages under Meghalaya’s jurisdiction, inclusion in relevant Legislative Assembly constituencies with proper polling facilities, and incorporation into all departmental records. It emphasised that the issue is not mere bureaucracy but a matter of historical rectification, legal responsibility, and justice for indigenous communities who have been part of the state’s cultural fabric for decades.
Meanwhile, Sungoh also informed he has received reports that in Lapangap, West Jaintia Hills, residents are scared to go to their own fields because the Meghalaya police stationed along the disputed border have not been authorised to provide security to the villagers who want to sow their fields or harvest their crops.
Sungoh stated that since the farms of these villagers fall in Karbi areas, the authorities from Meghalaya have to inform their Assam counterparts to provide security to the Khasi-Pnar farmers but the latter create excuses and claim not to be responsible or to be facing too much public opposition.
He also said that it seems the government has asked the police to stay only in Lapangap village and no order has been given to them to provide security to farmers who want to till their lands.
Sungoh said that the problems faced by villagers living in these border areas are “victims of democracy”. While the Constitution provides rights and privileges to the citizens of India, especially as Scheduled Tribes, till date these are meant for others only and not for them, he opined.
The HBDRF chairman said that the officers on the ground are losing the trust of the villagers because they cannot stop border violations or the construction works of Assam authorities.
