Assam: DC-level meet sparks optimism among residents of border area
GUWAHATI | SEPT 05, 2020:
A Deputy Commissioner-level meeting was held recently at Amingaon, Assam, following which the DCs of West Khasi Hills, Ri Bhoi and Kamrup agreed to allow "mutually beneficial" development activities on either side, with prior intimation.
The meeting serves as a flicker of hope among villagers in the Lower Lampi area (known as Langpih in Meghalaya) along the inter-state border in Kamrup district of lower Assam even as boundary issues between the two states have stood as hurdles for decades now.
"We hope that there is headway this time as the area, which has just two LP schools and a PHC, does not have good roads," Sambhu Chetry, a trader and resident of Lower Lampi, told TNT-The Northeast Today on Saturday.
"We were barred from constructing a 2.5-km long kutcha stretch from Mokaibari and Sundarpur on August 13 last by authorities from West Khasi Hills," Chetry alleged.
"However, the DC's meeting (necessitated by the 'dispute' over the road) raises optimism that the construction on the half-done road could resume very soon. As of now, it's still on hold though. Once completed, it will surely benefit the residents, farmers, petty traders and more importantly, school-going children who have to walk miles, and even wade through a shallow river, to reach an LP school here," he said.
Villagers of the border area have long been craving for development but the failure to demarcate boundaries at the outset, as one Opposition MLA in Meghalaya had on Friday pointed out, have put the brakes on any development activity in the area.
There have been claims and counterclaims regarding ownership of border area land from the authorities of the two states. Talks have taken place at the highest level from time to time, but with little results, as both sides have agreed to maintain the status quo along the 12 points of differences.
About 700 families reside in the Lower Lampi area stretching to Sundarpur, sources said.
"Families mainly depend on (the) cultivation of spices and vegetables and they have to commute a good 8 kilometres stretch from Sundarpur to Lower Lampi to sell their produce in the market. So, all-weather roads are needed here," said Hari Thapa, a farmer from Mokaibari.
The area also had immense potential to be a tourism hotspot.
"This place could have become a tourist spot, had it not been for the dispute between the two states. The weather here is pleasant even during the peak of summer. There are (several) natural water springs. We still witness layers of fog in the mornings and afternoons even during summer," Chetry said.
ALSO READ:
