Shillong, Nov 14: Chairman of the Hynñiewtrep Border Development and Research Forum (HBDRF) Chandame Sungoh has said absence of skirmishes in Block I does not mean peace has returned to the border villages with Assam.
“The skirmishes have subsided because we are being too soft and we have resigned to our fate,” Sungoh told reporters.
He alleged that in Khanduli, people from Assam have set up an “Entry Tax Gate”. He said when he visited the area on October 18, construction was going on. He said Meghalaya had earlier black-topped a road up to Umsara, 12 km from Khanduli, but the road now ends where the gate is coming up.
In Lapangap, he claimed that after Deputy Chief Minister Sniawbhalang Dhar’s visit on June 2, 2026, people from Assam were allowed to farm on Meghalaya land through Assam government schemes.
In Mukroh, he said Assam residents felled century-old trees preserved by residents inside Meghalaya’s border, planted their own species, and are preparing to settle there.
“What is our government doing,” he asked.
Sungoh said Block I and II are about re-transfer of the areas from Assam to Meghalaya, and that these are disputed areas. He said the areas he named are within Meghalaya.
He further claimed that Karbi community members living on the Meghalaya side have registered to vote in Assam in the latest Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
He said the forum will write to the 36 MLAs from Khasi-Jaintia constituencies and hold a protest in Shillong to force the government to resolve the border issues.
