CM says situation has normalised after clash incident at Langpih

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaFebruary 15, 2019

SHILLONG: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Friday said the situation at Langpih along the disputed inter-state border in West Khasi Hills District has been normalized and the two persons arrested by Assam police will also be released.

“…the situation was normalized but four people were injured and two people were arrested. We have immediately spoken to the Assam counterparts. West Khasi Hills District SP’s have informed the SP from the other side, they have discussed and I think the two people will be released,” Sangma told reporters during an interaction here.

The clash incident between, villagers and Assam police took place at Umawali village near Langpih on Thursday when the latter tried to stop the work for electrification of the village and arrested two persons including a driver and a labourer, police said.

When the villagers protested and start pelting stones, the Assam police resorted to lathi charge and in the process four persons were injured, they said.

Asked, the chief minister said these kinds of incidents have been taken place but the government is trying to balance out in ensuring that the development reaches out to the people and that the status quo is also maintained.

“But from our side we are maintaining very strong communication with our counterparts in Assam to ensure these kinds of incidents do not happen in the future,” he said.

With regards to the allegations that Assam has failed to respect status quo, Sangma however said, “Well it is happening on both sides, it is not only from their side but from our side also when Assam government does have some work takes place in some areas, our people also object to it.”

“These kinds of things are there but you can’t blame the people. We are trying to balance things out and ensuring that even though this kind of situation is there we are trying to ensure development should not stop,” he added.

On the delay to hold meetings at the level of the chief ministers and chief secretaries, Sangma said it is not that the Assam is not interested but this situation has been there since inception of the state.

“It is not very easy to immediately find the right time and place as the issue requires bit of building up to be done, it requires a bit of preliminary discussion to be done because if we get to that level it has to be something we should have some concrete result. I can assure you that we are discussing at different levels but if meetings happening at CM or CS level it should come up with some concrete points. We are doing our homework and let see how it moves forward. Therefore discussion happening at different level but it is not appropriate to speak it right now,” he said.

Stating that there are claims and counter claims on both sides, the chief minister however saidit is a situation where we need to find a solution to this and at same time ensure peace and harmony at the border.

“We need to ensure we take the people into confident and ensure development is not affected…all these aspects need to be handled with care otherwise it could lead to complication so government has to balance all these factors,” he added.