Residents of Pilangkata area in Ri-Bhoi district today said they were unhappy with the recent inspection carried out by officials from Meghalaya and Assam to verify the boundary between the two states in the area.
Members of Garo Students’ Union (GSU) Ri-Bhoi Regional Unit along with local villagers today held a gathering at Maikhuli village to oppose moves to bring their area under Assam.
It may be noted that on October 9, the regional committee both from Meghalaya and Assam led by Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong and Assam minister Pijush Hazarika carried out spot inspection of eight villages under two clusters – Pilangkata cluster and Khanapara cluster.
However, local people of Pilangkata, Maikhuli, Iongkhuli and other villages said they are not satisfied with the inspection as they do not want to be tagged with Assam in the final boundary settlement.
According to the villagers, the area in which they are residing purely falls within Meghalaya territory despite claims made by Assam.
During today’s gathering, the villagers along with leaders of GSU displayed placards and banners opposing any move to bring their villages under Assam.
“All the people of Pilangkata area are not satisfied with the inspection conducted by the regional committee of Assam and Meghalaya because if we go by the report of this inspection most of the Meghalaya land in our area will be brought under Assam,” said Sungmoon Marak, adviser of GSU Ri Bhoi Regional Unit.
He also said that people of the area will not allow even an inch of land to go to Assam.
Garo Mahila president Rikomuni Marak informed that even the land which does not fall under the area of differences between Assam and Meghalaya was claimed as being part of Assam by Assam minister Pijush Hazarika during the inspection.
“This claim will not be accepted by the Garo community of this area,” Marak said.
Marak also slammed Chief Minister Conrad Sangma for being soft on Assam and for proposing ‘give and take policy’ to address the boundary dispute.
“If the chief minister wanted to apply the give and take policy he can do so in Garo Hills and not with the land in Pilangkata area of Ri-Bhoi district,” she said.
Meanwhile, Garo villagers at the meeting vowed to stand firm to protect their land.
They also asked the Meghalaya government to properly verify the land from the local people before jumping to any conclusion and not to listen to whatever was claimed by the Assam government.
