Border panel to examine documents for strengthening claim over Langpih

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaJune 9, 2023

Chairman of the Regional Committee for West Khasi Hills Paul Lyngdoh on Friday said that the committee would be visiting the district very soon to hold a series of meetings with the various stakeholders for discussion on the Langpih sector.

“We are very likely to visit West Khasi Hills in the next ten days. We will schedule a series of meetings with the traditional institutions and also the heads of the district administration of West Khasi Hills and it should take us about two weeks or so,” Lyngdoh, who is also cabinet minister, told reporters.

This came after Meghalaya chief minister Conrad K Sangma and Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had recently started the second phase of border talks for resolving the remaining six areas of difference shared between the two states.

These include – Langpih in West Khasi Hills District; Borduar, Nongwah-Mawtamur, Deshdoomreah, Block-II in Ri Bhoi District; Block- I, Psiar – Khanduli in West Jaintia Hills District.

Asked how will the government ensure the frequent clash erupted along the inter-state border do not affect the exercise, Lyngdoh said, “This is a very contentious issue but we would like to move forward first and foremost the approach of the government which is to get the views of the local communities is a very viable and valid approach.”

He assured – “We will certainly make all efforts to ensure that instances of harassment are put to an immediate stop and for this we will do our duty. I have also spoken to the minister incharge home that we must be in a position to strengthen our patrolling of the border districts at the earliest.”

As far as Langpih is concerned, Lyngdoh, who is also an EM of the KHADC said, “As you are aware, even the KHADC has already approved a project of setting up a local police outpost at Langpih and I think that must proceed.”

Meanwhile, the cabinet minister said that the regional committee will also go into the documentation to strengthen the claim of the state that Langpih is in Meghalaya.

“We will meet various stakeholders but more importantly we will go into the documentation part and wherever we have valid documents available with the local population those will certainly strengthen our arguments in favour of Langpih being included in Meghalaya,” he asserted.