HM assures to deploy adequate security forces at the border

SHILLONG, FEB 19: Home Minister James K Sangma has assured to deploy adequate security forces  along the inter-state border with Assam.

The assurance was given to a delegation led by the Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) chief Lambokstar Margnar during a meeting held here on Tuesday.

The KSU leadership has demanded the state government to consider setting up of a permanent police outpost at Langpih located along the disputed inter-state border with Assam.

This was following the recent clash between the villagers and Assam police at Umwali village on February 14.

villagers pelted stones at the Assam police for trying to stop the work for erecting of electrical poles by the Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL).

At least two persons were arrested while several others including women were injured during the lathicharged by the Assam police.

In its memorandum to the home minister, the KSU said, “The Union implores upon your good office…for immediate setting up of a permanent police outpost in Langpih so as to provide security cover to the villagers of that area in view of the repeated atrocities of the Assam police in connivance with the illegal Nepali settlers.”

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, KSU chief informed that the home minister has assured the delegation to deploy more security forces at the border.

“He (Sangma) has also assured us that the government will ensure the electrification of the village is not interupted and will be completed at the earliest,” he said.

Marngar said the Union has asserted the need to ensure that the May 14, 2010-firing incident in which four Khasi villagers were killed and eight others were injured “should not be repeated”.

“The people residing at the border should not be made scapegoat due to the failure to resolve the boundary dispute between the two states,” he said.

Asked, Marngar admitted that the give and take policy may be one of the solutions to resolve the long pending boundary dispute between Assam and Meghalaya adding the issue cannot be allowed to continue in this manner.

“It is also high time that the government takes the KHADC into confident for providing documents to prove that these areas fall under the territory of the state,” he said.

Stating that the KSU is working in close coordination with its counterpart the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) under the banner of the North East Students’ Organisation (NESO), Marngar said the two student bodies will sit together and take the best decision on how to resolve the matter.

By Our Reporter