Shillong, Nov 17: The Regional Committee for West Khasi Hills District will recommend to the state government the need to convince the Assam government to consider villages dominated by non-Khasis and non-Garos in the Langpih sector to be part of Meghalaya.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, cabinet minister and chairman of the committee Renikton Lyngdoh Tongkhar said that he would fix a date for conducting an inspection to the Langpih sector next week.
“After the inspection, we will have another round of meeting with all the stakeholders and will make necessary recommendations to the state government regarding the villages that fall under the Langpih sector,” he said.
Tongkhar said he was told that Langpih sector is difficult due to mixed ethnicity because the Nepalese are residing in villages surrounded by Khasi and Garo villages.
“That is why we will go for a site inspection to understand and we will try to discuss with Assam if they can consider all those Nepali villages surrounded by Khasi and Garo villages to fall under the boundary of Meghalaya state. We will try to do that,” he said.
The minister said the willingness of the people will play a very important role for resolving the boundary dispute in the area. He recalled that during the first phase of border talks, ethnicity and willingness of the people out of the five principles have dominated the exercise to end the dispute in the six areas of difference shared between the two states.
“Therefore, we expect the people to collectively take a decision as the entire village and if possible the entire area can be settled at once. However, if there is a mixed reaction – if some group of people want to be in Meghalaya and some want to be in Assam, it will be very difficult to settle the issue,” he added.
The willingness of the people will only be taken during the joint inspection between the Meghalaya and Assam regional committees, he added.
