Voice of the People Party (VPP) president and Nongkrem legislator Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit said that the second phase of the border talks with Assam should not be a repeat of Phase I.
“In the first phase the disputed areas were surveyed at night and the resolution was not to the satisfaction and we had opposed it and even the border residents were against it,” Basaiawmoit said.
The VPP president said that as a party it does not accept the MoU signed to resolve the dispute in the first six areas of differences.
“We are not satisfied and we do not accept the resolution as per the Phase I,” Basaiawmoit added.
The Nongkrem legislator said that now that the party has four MLAs and a Lok Sabha Member of Parliament, besides heading the Executive Committee in the KHADC, it will follow up on how the government is taking the issue forward.
He said that one of the priority issues of the VPP in the coming days would be the resolution of the border dispute with Assam.
Meghalaya border residents had raised strong objections to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in the Phase I, as per which many areas falling under Meghalaya have gone to Assam.
In March 2022, Meghalaya and Assam partially resolved a 50-year-old border dispute in six of the 12 sectors along their boundary.
The first phase successfully resolved issues in six less sensitive areas: Gizang, Tarabari, Boklapara, Khanapara-Pilangkata, Ratacherra, and Hahim. Assam was awarded 18.51 sq km of the 36.79 sq km of disputed land in these areas.
The second phase will focus on resolving the more complex disputes in Langpih, Borduar, Deshdoomreah, Block I-II, Psiar-Khanduli, and Nongwah-Mawtamur (Garbhanga).
