Shillong, July 26: Irked by the lack of seriousness on the part of the Meghalaya Government to solve the construction of Border fencing along the Indo-Bangladesh border the Coordination Committee on International Border (CCIB) has sought the centre intervention through the state BJP of the Meghalaya state Unit.
The CCIB spokesperson G.H. Kharshanlor said that they have approached the BJP state president Shibun Lyngdoh so that through him they will be able to submit the memorandum to the Prime Minister of India and meet him or his union minster and to take further steps in this matter. In the discussion with Mr Lyngdoh has asked for the memorandum so that he will submit it to the Prime minister and we will soon handover the memorandum to him and after this submission of the memorandum the CCIB will seek appointment to meet the PM,” he said.
While welcoming the official statement issued by the MHA to do the fencing considering the places where people stays, Kharshanlor however said that there are more harvest lands compare to places where the people stays and these people sustain their livelihood through these farming lands.
“In this regards we request the MHA and the government of India as a whole not to consider only the dwelling places of the people but also their cultivation lands which is their source of their livelihood,” he said adding “We don’t want to lose an inch of our lands to Bangladesh and we don’t want an inch of theirs lands in India.”
He also said that the MHA should also take into consideration by consulting all the concern stake holders and people before doing the fencing especially in areas from Nongjri (EKH) to Jaliakhola (WJH) to do the realignment and a proper identification because in these areas not even one inch of land belongs to the Bangladesh. He also said that only after going through the MHA statement and does the proper study they will prepare the memorandum to submit to the PM and be able to give proper answer on this matter.
Mr Kharshanlor said that the aggressiveness on the part of the Deputy Commissioner and district collector is extreme who wanted everything to be done by force and do the fencing without listening and taking into consideration the plight of the people in the borders and even chase people and landowners during the survey.
Till date we do not know where the zero line is and right from the year 1958 when the demarcation of boundaries was done survey was carried without the consultation of the landowners including concern stake holders like the headmen’s etc which has given rise to these problems.According to him the Agreement Concerning the Demarcation of the Land Boundary between India and Bangladesh known as the Nehru-Noon Agreement 1958 was also never valued.
He further said that all the landowners here in Meghalaya have the land documents issued by the British time which barred the Bangladeshi to come and occupy the lands but these lands here but which are lying vacant and wasted because nobody could use these lands because the BSF won’t allow the people to use their own lands.
Stating that it is very sad to see that even after more than 15 years the state government never really bothered to address this issue, Kharshanlor however said that after they have approached every nook and corner the CCIB now wants the state BJP to help them take the matter to the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi and hopes everything is resolve once and for all.
Meanwhile KSU President, Daniel Khyriem said that the surveys which were carried out right from 2001 -2002 including the fact finding committee constituted during the time of Dr DonKupar Roy in the year 2007 have all fail to produce even one report on this border fencing issue.
Stating that till date the is no proper report on this matter which shows the lack of seriousness on the part of the state government and District Administration as a whole , Khyriem said adding that everything should be look at properly including the lands the people depends on.
