Shillong, July 9: It’s up to Assam to initiate the Regional Committee-level meeting for resolving the inter-state boundary dispute in West Jaintia Hills sector.
Informing this on Wednesday, deputy chief minister and chairman of the Regional Committee for West Jaintia Hills Sniawbhalang Dhar said, “When they (Assam regional committee) are ready, we will talk at any time.”
Dhar, meanwhile, assured that he would take up with his counterparts in Assam the issue of Lapangap village in disputed Khanduli-Psiar sector where an incident of uprooting an illegal plantation by Assam led to widespread tension in the region.
Villagers of Lapangap are still not able to go to their paddy fields in the disputed area due to fear of reprisal from Assam side.
Assuring that he would discuss the matter with the regional committee from Assam, he said, “We will take a call and ensure things are back to normal.”
However, mentioning that the second phase of border talks is still going on, the deputy chief minister said until and unless the border issue is finally resolved, the area will remain unsettled.
Khanduli-Psiar and Block I are among the six of total 12 areas of difference yet to be resolved during the ongoing exercise of bringing permanent settlement to the inter-state boundary issue.
He assured that the government is serious in resolving the border issue, but it would take some time since it is a long-pending issue.
Asked, Dhar said the deputy commissioner of West Jaintia Hills has submitted the report to the regional committee.
“The report of the regional committee will be submitted to the state government after we sit from both sides,” he added.
Earlier, Dhar visited Lapangap village under his Nartiang constituency to take stock of the situation and assured the residents of adequate deployment of police forces for their safety and security.
