Shillong, Feb 23: The state government on Wednesday held the first meeting of stakeholders after submitting a joint report with Assam to the Ministry of Home Affairs last month.
Sangma said the meeting was conducted to share details about the decision taken in respect to the six of the 12 areas of difference.
However, the NGO members were unhappy as no copy of the border report was shared with them.
The president of the Khasi Students’ Union, Lambokstarwell Marngar, told the media after the meeting that all the NGOs would constitute a team that would visit the border areas.
“(The team will) interact with people residing in all these areas, especially the Syiems and headmen to find out the facts about the visit of the regional committees constituted by the state government,” he said, adding that the decision was taken following the state government’s failure to share the border report.
When asked, Marngar said, “How can we trust (the findings of the regional committees) without a black and white report? It is very difficult to trust as we have to be very careful keeping in mind that this is a very sensitive issue.”
The chief minister clarified that he had told the groups that a copy of the report would be shared “at an appropriate time” after a meeting with the Ministry of Home Affairs.
On January 29, Sangma and Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma finalised the border agreement on the first six areas of difference.
The two state governments are still waiting for the Centre’s response.
The Survey of India (SI) and the governments of Assam and Meghalaya are jointly inspecting the six areas of difference for proper demarcation of the inter-state boundary.
“The process has already started and meetings are taking place. There are many locations, I am sure it will take a bit of time but we are pushing them (Survey of India) and ensure full support from both the state governments are there so that we can finish it at the earliest,” Sangma told reporters.
The six areas of difference under the first phase include Tarabari (4.69 sq km), Gizang (13.53 sq km), Hahim (3.51 sq km), Boklapara (1.57 sq km), Khanapara-Pilangkata (2.29 sq km) and Ratacherra (11.20 sq km).
The chief minister said that the two states have already finalised on different villages but “we need to finalise on what would be the actual demarcation of the line”.
On a timeframe for completion of the inspection, Sangma said it would be wrong to put deadlines “but the government is working towards resolving the issue at the earliest”.
Stating that the NGOs shared suggestions and stressed the need to safeguard the interests of the border dwellers, Sangma said, “We shared the report and it was very positive because all the organizations have felt that it is time that we should find some solution to this. We also expressed to them that there will never be a 100% perfect solution but we will try to make it as best as possible so that the interest of the people of our state are not compromised in any way and while we look into all that aspect will be able to come to solution that will be acceptable.”
The KSU leader said the NGOs reminded the government that the “history and the concept of the hill state movement should not be forgotten”.
“It depends on the wisdom of the state government what kind of formulae it would like to apply… the people residing in these areas should be taken into confidence. The documents from the traditional heads are very important,” he added.
