Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma and Meghalaya CM Conrad K Sangma likely to visit Langpih on Nov 17

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma are expected to visit Langpih in Meghalaya's West Khasi Hills district along the disputed border on November 17, official sources here said on Friday.

Langpih is one of the 12 areas of dispute along the 884.9-km border but both the State governments have targeted six of the "less complicated" areas for resolving.

However, the joint inspection of the two Chief Ministers will be finalized only after the arrival of Sarma from New Delhi.

The two Governments had a few months ago formed regional committees comprising local MLAs and officials. These committees were tasked with meeting the villagers in the disputed areas, recording their views and submitting reports for perusal and discussion at a higher level.

The joint visit will be a part of the confident-building exercise by the two chief ministers in a bid to resolve the boundary disputes between the two states.

Both the chief ministers agreed to go beyond the status quo to find out a lasting solution to the issue.

Langpih is one of the most underdeveloped villages bordering the Kamrup district in Assam and West Khasi Hills district in Meghalaya. The conflict over Langpih can be traced back to 1974 when the Meghalaya Police forcefully evicted people from the Nepali community from their homes and grazing land. The Nepalis, who were mostly engaged in animal husbandry, approached the Assam Police for justice. Assam Police went to the village to investigate the matter, which has remained escalated since.

The Meghalaya Government again claimed that Assam had encroached upon the village in 1979. In 1988, the matter reached the Parliament, where the Assam Government alleged that Meghalaya wanted to create a new legislative constituency by taking over areas of Assam, including Langpih.

The situation worsened after May 14, 2010, when clashes broke out between the Nepali, Khasi and Garo communities. Assam police fired upon the people, wherein four Khasi people were killed and at least 18 others injured.

In 2012, hundreds from the Khasi community sat on a hunger strike. Officials and police forces were deployed to defuse the situation. But the Khasi people formed a human chain to prevent government officials Assam from entering the area.

Assam and Meghalaya are embroiled in 12 other land disputes along the border. While Assam claims that Meghalaya has encroached upon 14 villages in Assam, Meghalaya claims that the official bungalow of the Assam Chief Minister at Koinadhara in Guwahati is built on land owned by Meghalaya.

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