Shillong, Dec 4: The Garoland State Movement Committee (GSMC), Pedaldoba Regional Unit has urged Chief Minister Conrad Sangma to resolve the border disputes between Meghalaya and Assam under Raksamgre Civil Sub Division through robust border management.
The GSMC said when Meghalaya was part of Assam, the boundary was never conclusively demarcated, resulting in a thorny dispute that has eroded governance and inflicted immense hardship on residents since 1972.
“This enduring conflict has been a persistent thorn in the side of regional development. It has led to the dislocation and disenfranchisement of border communities, often leaving them stranded outside governmental schemes despite their lands being contested,” GSMC unit chairman Rimjen Ch Sangma said in a petition to the Chief Minister.
He said encroachment along Meghalaya’s borders remains a threat, fuelling local tensions. The Jingiram River, a vital tributary of the Brahmaputra and a historical natural boundary of Meghalaya’s Garo Hills, has shifted southward over the years, enabling settlers from Assam to encroach upon Meghalaya’s territory through cultivation and settlement, Rimjen said.
Stating that consultations with village elders and community leaders reveal that the original boundary—marked by the Rongsai Bazar bridge, Sapang Pahar, Mangnakopa, Sildubi, and Jolsimina—was historically recognized as the delineation between the two states, he said the ‘Samson Geography’, a definitive reference on Garo Hills, affirms that these villages traditionally lie within Meghalaya’s borders, with the Jingiram River flowing entirely inside Meghalaya’s domain. However, sedimentation and natural shifts have blurred these lines, resulting in encroachments that threaten to tip the balance, he added
Rimjen further said Pedaldoba, Rongsai, Bolsaldamgre, Balbalgre, Lower Kongrapara, Thakurbilla villages, and the Forest Beat Office of the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) were brought under the jurisdiction of the Rabha Hasong Autonomous Council (RHAC) as shown in the survey while boundary markers erected in the 1920s, including pillars at the Rongsai Bazar bridge and other sites, that once served as the line of demarcation have succumbed to erosion, sowing confusion and overlapping claims.
He also said complications stem from shifting river courses and Assam-issued documents to settlers moving into Meghalaya’s territories—such as in Kharsengdap, Khokapara, Kalapara, and Besorkona—further fuelling local disputes and communal tensions.
The GSM urged the state and central authorities to act decisively and come up with a comprehensive, multi-layered approach—integrating political will, intelligence coordination, legal mechanisms, and community participation to manage and resolve these border disputes.
