Newmai News Network
Shillong | February 15
After a flare up on Thursday, the situation in Langpih which lies along the disputed Assam - Meghalaya border has returned to normal on Friday. “The situation was normalized but four people were injured and two people were arrested. We have immediately spoken to the Assam counterparts. West Khasi Hills District SP’s has informed the SP from the other side, they have discussed and I think the two people will be released,” Chief Minister, Conrad Sangma informed here on Friday.
A clash had broken up between villagers and Assam Police personnel at Umawali village near Langpih on Thursday when the latter tried to stop the work for electrification of the village and arrested two persons including a driver and a labourer, police said. When the villagers protested and start pelting stones, the Assam police resorted to lathi charge and in the process four persons were injured, they alleged. Conrad said that these incidents have been taking place but the government is trying to balance out in ensuring that the development reaches out to the people and that the status quo is also maintained.
“But from our side we are maintaining very strong communication with our counterparts in Assam to ensure these incidents do not happen in the future,” he said.
With regards to the allegations that Assam has failed to respect status quo, Conrad said, “Well it is happening on both sides, it is not only from their side but from our side also when Assam government does has some work which takes place in some areas, our people also object to it.”
“These kinds of things are there but you can’t blame the people. We are trying to balance things out and ensuring that even though this kind of situation is there we are trying to ensure development does not stop,” he added.
On the delay to hold meetings at the level of the chief ministers and chief secretaries, Conrad said it is not that the Assam is not interested but this situation has been there since the inception of the state. “It is not very easy to immediately find the right time and place as the issue requires a bit of building up to be done, it requires a bit of preliminary discussion to be done because if we get to that level it has to be something, we should have some concrete result. I can assure you that we are discussing at different levels but if meetings happening at CM or Chief Secretary level it should come up with some concrete points. We are doing our homework and let see how it moves forward. Therefore discussion happening at different level but it is not appropriate to speak about it right now,” he said.
Stating that there are claims and counter claims on both sides, Conrad however said that it is a situation where a solution needs to be found to ensure peace and harmony at the border.
“We need to ensure we take the people into confidence and ensure development is not affected. All these aspects need to be handled with care otherwise it could lead to complication so government has to balance all these factors,” he added.
