SHILLONG, MAY 13: Assuring “full force” for farmers facing disturbances, Deputy Chief Minister Sniawbhalang Dhar on Wednesday said the state government will augment security in Lapangap village from tomorrow to ensure cultivation proceeds without disruption.
The assurance came after hundreds of villagers, led by the Dorbar Shnong of Lapangap and supported by several NGOs, marched to the Meghalaya Secretariat demanding protection following alleged harassment from the Karbi side.
“The people of Lapangap village and some of the NGOs met me about this Lapangap issue. There is something happening for the last few days. It is the time for the farmers to go and cultivate their land but there is some disturbances from the Karbi side,” Dhar told reporters after the meeting.
“We had a very fruitful meeting. I have assured them that from the government, we will try our level best to protect our people and peace should be maintained as usual,” he said.
Dhar stressed the issue was one of livelihood, not the interstate border.
“Today is not about border issue. We were discussing about their livelihood which are part of the Lapangap village, which has been normal, and they have cultivated their paddy fields in the Karbi side. The border issue is a state level subject,” he clarified.
“Today they came to request as some of the Karbi people are disturbing them and we have assured them that we will provide them full force from tomorrow onwards to ensure cultivation is done without any disturbances,” he said.
On engagement with Assam, the Deputy Chief Minister said coordination at the district level is underway.
“Both the deputy commissioners will discuss, they had even discussed this in the last few days, but there is some more to be discussed and since the government of Assam has formed the new government, so obviously, our chief minister told me that he will discuss this issue with the Assam chief minister,” he said.
“Because it is along the border, so we are waiting and as soon as the government of Assam appoint the new chairman of the regional committee from their side, we will take a call and we will meet our counterpart in the appropriate time,” he added.
He confirmed additional deployment is being arranged. “It is already there but some more force is needed so we are providing more forces to ensure safety and security of the people living in the border. We will deploy as per needed,” Dhar said.
“We have assured the Lapangap delegation that we will provide sufficient force so that their activities should not be disturbed,” he stated.
Assistant Headman of Lapangap village Samkhih Situng said the village’s primary demand was security for cultivators.
“First demand we had raised to the government is to give full protection to the farmers of Lapangap village,” he said. “We had a meeting with the deputy chief minister Sniawbhalang Dhar and he assured us that from tomorrow onwards, the farmers of Lapangap village can continue with our cultivation,” Situng noted.
He cautioned that further steps would be considered if the assurance is not met. “As already discussed in the meeting that if the assurance given by the government does not happen we will take other steps to ensure we get protection while farmers are carrying out their cultivation,” he said.
Describing the problems faced, Situng said, “We faced harassment all the time. We cultivate in our land, we do ploughing and Karbi came at night to destroy our paddy fields. That is the harassment that we faced from our Karbi.”
While expressing satisfaction with the outcome, he urged sustained attention. “Not hundred percent but 95% percent we are happy with the decision taken by the government and hope that the government will take Lapangap issue very seriously and to provide us adequate security so that we can carry out with our cultivation freely. We want full deployment of force like SF-10 and all,” Situng said.
He added that senior police officials gave commitments during the meeting.
“IG and SP of West Jaintia were also present in the meeting and they assured us that from tomorrow onwards they will deploy full force to give security and protection to Lapangap farmers,” he said.
By Our Reporter
