‘SHILLONG, JULY 11: Meghalaya chief minister Mukul Sangma has stated that there is a need to understand the complexities of the problems of the northeastern states and called for integrated approach by all the state governments to address the issues affecting development in the region.
Participating in the meeting of the union home minister Rajnath Singh with the chief ministers of northeastern states on Saturday, Sangma highlighted the factors like presence of long porous international borders, easy access to sophisticated arms and limited resources that have compounded the problem of insurgency in the region and said immediate interventions using technology were required to tackle the problem.
“The northeastern states are fighting a war everyday against anti-national forces with limited resources”, Sangma stated.
Sangma also said that the issues raised by the union home minister were linked to internal security and stressed the need to strengthen the states. He also called for intelligence sharing among the states to fight militancy in the region.
On inter-stated boundary dispute between Assam and Meghalaya, Sangma stressed the need to build up complete political consensus and adopt a mechanism where there is no blame game. He informed the meeting that the state has already started engaging all political parties to work out a solution to the contentious boundary issue with Assam so as to end the miseries of the people living in the border areas.
Sangma also brought up the issue of poor condition of roads in the border areas, some of which are national highways. There is a need to improve and develop the roads in the border areas but where is the funds going to come from, he said and emphasized the need for engagement with the Ministry of Finance in this regard. “We need to generate hope among the people because when people lose hope, we will have more enemies”.
Besides the security related issues, sustained counter insurgency operations in the state, ANVC peace settlement, strengthening of state police, requirement of funds for developmental projects which are critical to security were among other issues placed by the chief minister before the meeting. –By Our Reporter
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