SHILLONG, SEPT 3: Villages falling under the Raid Nongtung have given an ultimatum to the Meghalaya government to either claim the villages as its landed property or the villagers will be forced to accept the offer made by the Assam government to register as voters of the neighbouring state.
The dispute border villages’ chieftains from Ri Bhoi district said that it was time for the Meghalaya government to decide which sides do the people living in the border areas belong – Meghalaya or Assam.
The Syiem of Raid Nongtung Miwell Shadap told reporters at a news conference on Tuesday though around 36 villages of Raid Nongtung under Hima Khyriem Syiemship falls under the jurisdiction of Meghalaya, however the government has failed to claim ownership of over 15 villages allowing the Assam government to take advantage of the situation.
Shadap said, “We demand that these villages of ‘Raid Nongtung, Hima Khyriem Syiemship’ should be recognized as part of Ri Bhoi district of Meghalaya’ and not under the so-called Block II disputed areas. He said the reason for such a demand was because all the villagers had enroll as an electorates of Meghalaya and actively exercised their franchise in the last state elections which itself prove that they are citizens of Meghalaya.
Informed that the Assam government has been pressurizing the villagers to enroll with Assam, a member of Raid Nongtung Aloyus Bina said, “We also demand that the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Meghalaya to come out with a declaration that the villagers of these villages are legal voters of the state. He was of the opinion that this will also prevent and discourage dual voters from registering themselves in the electoral lists of both the neighbouring states.
Bina also demanded that proper demarcation of boundary between Meghalaya and Assam be completed before the former celebrate its golden jubilee of its statehood.
The Raid Nongtung and the pressure groups that includes the KSU, CORP, HANM and RUPA have demanded immediate removal of the check gates set up by the Assam government at Jatalong and Sabuda village and instead set up a Meghalaya police outpost to safeguard the interest of the people of the area.
RUPA president Alos Nongpoh said the presence of the Assam battalion in Sabuda has created a lot of problem and sense of insecurity to the residents of these villages. He also informed that the check gates set up illegally by the Karbi Anglong Autonomous District Council and Assam forest have further aggravated the situation wherein local farmers were made to paid huge amount of tax for their agricultural produced. –By Our Reporter
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