Shillong, April 27: The KSU activists on Monday visited Moojem village in West Jaintia Hills to intervene into the alleged illegal encroachment of tribal lands.
The members of KSU West Jaintia Hills District unit were accompanied by the police at the Barato outpost till Mukoilum and were left on their own to proceed to Moojem village citing that they are not allowed to go beyond Mukoilum.
General Secretary of the unit Leningrad Tariang said the leaders from Moojem village had informed the Union about the attempt to illegally grab the lands belonging to the pnar residents by the Karbi people.
According to the Moojem villagers, lands were given to the Karbi for the purpose of cultivation only. However, the Karbi people did not respect that and now have started to claim ownership rights over these lands by constructing houses.
“Immediately on being informed, we decided to come to Moojem village to find out the truth,” Tariang said.
He said that talks between the people of Moojem village and the Karbi people did not reach anywhere and now they have decided to fix a date for holding a meeting in the presence of officials from both sides of the states – Assam and Meghalaya – for resolving the issue.
“However, we know that the lands belong to the Moojem people because they have proper documents to substantiate their claims,” Tariang said.
Asking the government to immediately intervene into the matter, the KSU leader said, “The government should ensure there are no untoward incidents happening as we don’t want to lose precious lives due to such an issue.”
“We demand the government to immediately resolve the border issue so that it will end the illegal encroachment on tribal lands,” he added.
Tariang further demanded the government to allow the Meghalaya police to go beyond Mukoilum since Assam police are never scared to enter into the state’s territory.
There was tension in Khanduli areas too.
