Mukul Sangma flays Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma over Balakhawa incident in Ri-Bhoi district

Congress demands release of Hima Nongspung secretary

A CORRESPONDENT

SHILLONG: The Opposition Congress in Meghalaya said that the approach of the government in dealing with the recent incident in Balakhawa village, Ri-Bhoi district is like allowing another boundary dispute to arise between Meghalaya and Assam.

“There are already areas of difference between Meghalaya and Assam. Do you want similar disputes in new areas?” posed Opposition leader Dr Mukul Sangma during an interaction with media here on Sunday.

Dr Sangma, who visited the incident site on Saturday, said that the place where the incident occurred was well within the jurisdiction of Meghalaya and the Assam Police did not have any authority to arrest Michael Warjri, the secretary of Hima Nongspung.

He demanded that the Assam Police should drop the cases against Warjri and if any case is to be taken than that would be the responsibility of the police station within the jurisdiction of Meghalaya.

Dr Sangma also alleged that the State government was not doing enough to protect the lives and properties of the residents living in the border villages.

“When we visited Balakhawa, to our surprise we saw the State government’s insensitivity towards the people in the border villages and lack of interest to protect the State,” the Opposition leader said.

He also lambasted Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma for not taking stock of the situation arising out of the attack and the subsequent arrest of the secretary of Hima Nongspung, alleging that he only has time to go to Varanasi and Lucknow, in an obvious reference to Conrad accompanying Prime Minister Narendra Modi while filing his nomination papers and visiting the Bishop of Lucknow with Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

Meanwhile, Dr Sangma has demanded that the state government should immediately discuss the issue with Assam and ensure that the encroachment by the latter is vacated.

He also said that Assam will benefit by delaying a resolution on the long-pending boundary dispute.

Dr Sangma pointed out that in the areas of differences there are many natural resources which Assam plans to take benefit of.

Last week, a group of people vandalised the residence of Warjri, allegedly due to his opposition to the on-going construction of a PMGSY road at Balakhawa by the Assam government.

Also read: Meghalaya news