Meghalaya not to 'take' Assam land

SHILLONG, January 20: Meghalaya government today clarified that they would "not ask for" even an inch of Assam's land while resolving the three-decade-old boundary dispute with its neighbour. A senior leader of the Autonomous State Demand Committee (ASDC), Holiram Terang, had yesterday threatened that not an inch of Karbi land would be transferred to Meghalaya as chief ministers of both the states had not taken the views of the people residing in the disputed areas. Reacting to Terang's threat, vice-chairman of Meghalaya land revenue committee Sayeedullah Nongrum said, "I can assure Terang that we are not going to take even an inch of land from Assam." Nongrum, a former MLA and member of the ruling United Democratic Party (UDP), said the people just wanted their land back. He claimed that the disputed areas in Block I and Block II had been part of the undivided Khasi Hills district and were transferred to Karbi Anglong in 1951 for "administrative convenience." "We only want the Khasi-Pnar (Jaintia)-inhabited villages in the disputed area to be transferred back to Meghalaya," Nongrum, who has taken the lead in resolving the boundary dispute, said. "There should not be any problem in re-transferring the area to Meghalaya," he maintained. The UDP leader said Meghalaya's demand was legitimate. "We hope the issue will be resolved amicably," he added. Meghalaya hopes to get back 13 to 14 Khasi-Pnar-dominated villages. Talks between the two neighbours started on March 15 last year after E.K. Mawlong took over as the chief minister. Terang, who is the public representative of the disputed area, had made the hard-hitting statement in reaction to both the governments' decision to resolve the issue in a "give-and-take manner". The "understanding" was a sequel to the joint aerial survey conducted by Mawlong and his Assam counterpart Prafulla Kumar Mahanta in May last year. "As both the chief ministers are sincere about the issue, we are optimistic that an amicable settlement can be arrived at very soon," Nongrum said. Mawlong and Mahanta last met in Dispur on December 22 to discuss the issue. Speaking on the status of the proposed joint survey, Nongrum said Mawlong and Mahanta had agreed that the deputy commissioners of Karbi Anglong and Jaintia Hills districts would officially record the ground realities in the disputed area. "A solution will be arrived at after the deputy commissioners submit their reports," Nongrum said. Subsequently, the decision will have to be ratified by the respective state Assemblies and local residents, he added. The views of the Karbi Anglong Autonomous District Council (KAADC) would also be taken into consideration before the final settlement, Nongrum added.