Land owners, headmen and pressure groups under the banner of Coordination Committee on International Border (CCIB) will hold a meeting at Amlarem in West Jaintia Hills tomorrow to discuss on the alleged attempts by the State government to force border residents to provide their land for erection of border fencing along the international border with Bangladesh.
According to the CCIB general secretary Kmen Myrchiang, the government is putting pressure on land owners along the international border to part away with their land for the purpose of border fencing.
Myrchiang also alleged that district councils are also secretly issuing no-objection certificates (NOCs) to the government for erection of border fencing despite objection by border residents. He said that this was revealed in information obtained through Right to Information (RTI).
The CCIB is a conglomerate of organisations like KSU, FKJGP, HNYF, Federal Council of War Mihngi-War Jaintia, headmen and representatives of villages along the border.
CCIB and land owners have opposed the erection of the border fence at 150 yards from the zero line. They said that the fencing should be done at the zero line itself so that landowners do not lose away their agricultural land.
Of Meghalaya’s 443-km international border with Bangladesh, nearly 70 per cent has been fenced.
