The presence of the Assam tax gate at Khanduli is posing a grave difficulty to people in need of immediate health attention and has shattered the Khasi-Pnar farmers.
Speaking to Highland Post, the chairman of the Hynñiewtrep Border Dispute Redressal Forum (HBDRF), Chandame Sungoh, said that the tax gate has adversely affected residents of Raid Labang who are surrounded by members of the Karbi community.
“The residents of Raid Labang can no longer go to the market to sell their produce or to seek medical care on the Meghalaya side because the Karbi, who surround them, won’t allow them to go to Meghalaya but direct them to get all their requirements from the Assam side. Another problem is that the Khasi-Pnar farmer doesn’t understand the Assamese language even if they want to seek all the requirements from the Assam side and their livelihood is shattered,” Sungoh said.
He said that the farmers who normally earn their livelihood by selling produce like ginger, pineapples, peppers and various vegetables, including their livestock, in Meghalaya are now living a very hard life because of the oppression.
Informing that the Elaka Labang Nongphyllut Dolloiship comprises three Raids, including the Raid Labang, that are surrounded by the Karbi, in the disputed area of Block 1, he stressed that this is the reason that the whole of Block 1 should be awarded to Meghalaya in the border negotiations between the two states.
The members of the Karbi tribe present in Jaintia Hills should be content to be part of Meghalaya or leave for Assam because the land belongs to Meghalaya, Sungoh asserted.
Sungoh, who also attended the meeting convened by the Namdong and Laskeiñ Block Border Area Peace Committee, informed that the meeting decided that when the Chief Ministers of Assam and Meghalaya or the regional committees from both states pay a visit to Khanduli, it will be demanded of them to award Block 1 to Meghalaya.
Regarding the tax gate, Sungoh said they will write to the state government and the Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council (JHADC) to remove it immediately.
“We don’t know or have any information of what steps the JHADC has taken on the tax gate and whether it has written to the state government or to the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council. We have also urged the two MDCs in the JHADC who attended the meeting today to also apprise the council on the matter,” he added.
Sungoh has recently warned that the Assam tax gate at Khanduli could create another Mukroh-like situation.
It was at Mukroh, a village in West Jaiñtia Hills, that Assam police and forest guards clashed with villagers from Meghalaya and five of the latter party were shot dead in November last year.
Sungoh said that the presence of the forest check gate at Mukroh made the Karbi Anglong council to claim that the land beyond the check gate was under its jurisdiction but the fact is that beyond the forest check gate, more than 4-5 kilometres is still under Mukroh where the people of Mukroh also have their farmlands.
The Mukroh villagers were unwilling then and are still unwilling to compromise on their land rights while Assam considers all the territory beyond the Mukroh check gate to be part of Karbi Anglong.
