Meghalaya Deputy CM Dhar visits Lapangap, promises to resolve turmoil

Meghalaya Deputy Chief Minister in-charge Urban Affairs, Sniawbhalang Dhar on Tuesday visited Lapangap area to assess the ground reality on ground zero and assured villagers of the government’s commitment to resolve the turmoil in Lapangap.
Lapangap village, a disputed village between Assam-Meghalaya, has been in the news after Pnar villagers uprooted sandalwood saplings by Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) on June 25.
Meghalaya government officials had said that the KAAC carried out the tree plantation without authorisation after the governments of Meghalaya and Assam agreed to maintain status-quo on developmental activities in Lapangap area.
Dhar, who is also the Chairman of the regional committee for West Jaintia Hills, to resolve decades-long boundary dispute with Assam, was accompanied by Chief Executive Member of Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council, Thombor Shiwat, West Jaintia Hills district Deputy Commissioner Abhinav Kumar Singh and Superintendent of Police Jagpal Singh Dhanao, amongst others.
“Our people are totally against the plantation drive and they had uprooted all the tree saplings. As of now, there is no more plantation in that place,” the Deputy Chief Minister said after he inspected the paddy fields belonging to the Pnar villagers of Lapangap. Stating that status-quo is being maintained in the area, Dhar, however, voiced concern that the Pnar villagers cannot get access to their paddy fields.
“We will discuss this issue (to allow farmers) in the coming days so that our villagers can tend their paddy fields freely without any sense of insecurity,” Dhar said.
The Deputy Chief Minister also informed that the Deputy Commissioners of West Jaintia Hills district would soon meet his West Karbi Anglong district counterpart to resolve the issue. Further, Dhar said, adequate police force having a strength of 40 have been deployed at Lapangap village to ensure safety and security of the people there.
Assam and Meghalaya have a long-standing dispute in 12 areas along the 885 km-long inter-state border.
In March 2022, Assam Chief Minister Sarma and his Meghalaya counterpart, Conrad Sangma signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) resolving their border dispute in six of the 12 areas of difference in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
In the first phase, six areas were resolved and a MoU signed to put at rest the differences in these areas. The six areas were Tarabari, Gizang, Hahim, Boklapara, Khanapara-Pillangkata and Ratacheera.
Both Assam and Meghalaya adopted a give and take policy under which Meghalaya took control of 18.28 square km and Assam 18.51 km out of the total disputed area of 36.79 square km in these six areas.
Talks would be held later this year over the six remaining areas of differences between the two sides, which also include some of these contested areas like Block II and II.