M’laya gets 21 of 23 villages, revisiting border agreement does not arise: CM

Speaking to reporters, Conrad K Sangma said the question of revisiting the border agreement signed with Assam for resolving the 6 of the 12 areas of difference does not arise.

“I would like to inform you that all the areas that were included in the map that was made and report was made in 2011 – which was not made by us but by the then government – all those villages as per the map, 21 out of the 23 villages have come to Meghalaya,” he said.

According to him, there are only two villages including Malchapara which have not come to Meghalaya.

“The other areas that are now saying we should change and bring those areas into Meghalaya were never in the 2011 report,” Conrad said as he ruled out “Therefore, for Meghalaya government now to increase and add more villages which are over and above the list which came out in 2011 is not possible”

“As we never asked for them in 2011, the question of bringing them (to Meghalaya) does not arise now and it is very difficult for us to convince Assam why we are adding more villages to the list which was submitted in 2011. The then government had clearly stated that those villages are in Assam,” he further added.

The chief minister cited that in Mallang area, there is Mallang Salbari, Mallang, Joypur, and Huwapara – and the 2011 map had Mallang Salbari in Assam already adding “This was not drawn by us but by the previous government. The Joypur area in Mallang was also drawn beyond the 2011 map and the other villages mentioned are outside the map that was drawn in 2011.”

On the Leader of Opposition rejecting the border agreement signed by the two states, the chief minister however reminded that the list was given by the Leader of Opposition then when he was the chief minister.

He (Mukul) repeated in the house also that this was submitted by them that they had done a lot of homework into this and long hours were spent in making this report.

“I personally feel that if they had gone and done a survey at that point in time maybe the lines would have been different today.If they had gone and actually asked the people that time maybe the villages would not have been 23 but 29 villages would have been there,” Conrad said.

Stating that there were “mistakes” done in 2011, the chief minister said, “Today for me to change what was already submitted by the government as a demand is very difficult. Therefore, it is wrong for the LO to say today that he doesn’t agree to this because this was his demand. He was the chief minister and he made this list. And today we have managed to convince through public will, we manage to get 21 out of 23 villages back to Meghalaya. If there were 29 villages, I am sure that we would have got 27 out of 29 because those people wanted to come but those villages were never put in the list in 2011.”

“He should realize that he is very much part of this entire process from day one and we have only acted on the basis of the report which he submitted. And if he is today questioning the resolution the solution and say why those villages left out I think he is questioning himself and the work that he did or the work that he did not do of including those villages at that point in time,” he said while adding “It is sad that he is doing that at this point in time. He should look back and review the result and he is making a lot of visits and going to different locations. I wish he had done that in 2011 may be we would have got all those villages in this list that we have.”

Understanding the sentiments and concerns of the people living in those villages, which have been excluded from the list, Conrad however said, “We have our limitations, we could not go beyond 23 villages which were in the list of demand.”

He added, “If we had the choice to redo the entire report that was submitted in 2011, I assure you we would have done it differently and we would have call all those people also but based on the report of 2011, we were working with limited scope and limited villages and we managed to get 21 out of 23 villages that was on the list based on people’s will.”

By Our Reporter