SHILLONG, April 12: Erwin Syiem Sutnga who is also a member of the Joint Action Committee on the problems in the interstate border areas said that the second phase of border resolution will not take place at all because the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed to settle the issue on the 6 sites of dispute in the first phase was not followed as per principles laid down.
He said that if the Government has to give land to Assam then it must be clear about it and from the leader’s end who is also a member of the Congress party has alleged that the giving away of land to Assam involves a lot of buying and selling and also politics.
Sutnga, who is also an advocate said that as his knowledge, many politicians who are in power now are trying to sell out the sites outrightly to Assam and the market price of the sites is upto Rs.20,000/- crores( Twenty Thousand Crores) which is to be paid to the group if those areas go to Assam. He said that on this matter more investigation is being carried out and he can divulge more on the buying and selling of sites after that.
Members of the Joint Action Committee on the problems faced at the interstate border areas inclusive of the local village administrators of the 6 villages and landowners and accompanied by leaders of the Congress on the 12th of April met with the Chief Minister of Meghalaya, Conrad Kongkal Sangma to demand a re-examination of the agreement, but the Chief Minister refused to meet with the delagation as no prior appointment was taken for the meeting which prompted the JAC to submit the memorandum at the his office in the Secretariat.
At the same time, Sutnga also said that the landowners and local village administrators will not allow even an inch of their land to go to Assam, and prior to the signing of any agreement, the Government should have consulted them first because it has no right to sign on any matter relating to land which belongs to the village or village residents.
On being queried, Sutnga said that it is possible to stop or re-examine the MoU, and added that because it was signed between the Chief Ministers and this process still had to go through the Parliament and still requires a survey to be completed by the Survey of India. He said that land owners and local village administrators will not allow for the survey to take place at any cost.
On being queried further, he said that if the Government no longer wants to re-examine the agreement and moves ahead, then the JAC will knock at the door of the Supreme Court.
The Basan Nongkseh of Hima Mylliem, Nathaniel Thangkhiew said that his mother’s land which has been given away to Assam was free from any encumbrances or disputes, but suddenly in 2018, Assam started encroaching for which he also filed a complaint at the Office of the District Administration but no action was taken by them stating that it is a civil suit, which prompted his mother to file a case in the Supreme Court which is surprising now because that same plot of land is given outrightly to Assam.
On this refusal to meet with the delegation of the JAC, the Chief Minister of Meghalaya, Conrad Kongkal Sangma said that he could not meet with them because they had not taken an appointment for the meeting and besides he was tied up with other meetings and processes that had already been fixed
