The MLA of Dispur, Atul Bora, reportedly provoked fury among the Khasi and Garo inhabitants of Pillangkata by claiming the village for Assam.
Bora visited Pillangkata accompanied by a magistrate and Assam police and claimed that Meghalaya had encroached on the village, which, he said, belonged to Assam.
“We Meghalaya citizens have to face such harassment from time to time and feel helpless about talking of land encroachment because Assam has taken much of our land and nothing has been done about it by the Meghalaya government,” a local village leader said today.
The villagers condemned Bora for, they said, stirring up trouble even as negotiations are going on between the two states to settle their border disputes.
Representatives of two pressure groups – the Meghalaya People Social Organisation and Hynñiewtrep A’chik National Movement – visited the village and gave their support to the villagers. The two organisations also demanded that the Meghalaya government deploy its own police force in the area to counter Assam.
