Minister Kyrmen Shylla rules out ‘give and take’ policy

Shillong: The policy of ‘give and take’ of areas as a way to resolve the inter-State boundary dispute with Assam is not feasible. This has been opined by Meghalya Minister in-charge of revenue Kyrmen Shylla, even as he added that the new Meghalya Democratic Allaince (MDA) wanted to be steadfast its endeavor to solve the problem once and for all.

Talking to The Sentinel on Wednesday, the twenty seven years old Minister said that a meeting with the stakeholders of the government will be held on Friday under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma. “ We will introspect the past moves of the past dispensation and look further on how to initiate moves for a solution,” stated Shylla. He was categorical in stating, “The once mooted idea of ‘give and take’ is not in the government’s mind,” while adding that the September 14 meeting in Shillong will channelize the ways for the government to pursue the matter further.

From the year 2000, i.e. during the regimes of EK Mawlong and Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, the idea of ‘give and take’, that is to exchange the disputed areas on certain considerations was a talking point. It failed to materialized due to socio, ethnic and political assertions that emanated from both the states.

As a political green horn assigned to look at the department of revenue, the Minister stated , “We are serious to even take an extra yard to solve the issue.” “Our government doesn’t want the issue to keep on lying pending,” he added besides vowing to take a personal interest on the matter that has plagued the border population since the inception of Meghalya. Meghalya and Assam have 12 areas of differences along the Jaintia Hills-Karbi Anglong district, the Ri-bhoi district-Karbi-anglong district as well as certain stretches in Ri-Bhoi-Kamrup belt and Garo Hills- Goalpara belt.