A CORRESPONDENT
SHILLONG: The Voice of the People Party (VPP) has cautioned the State Government not to celebrate the signing of the boundary agreement between Meghalaya and Assam. In fact, the VPP has strongly urged the Meghalaya Government to issue a White Paper on the present arrangement and agreement reached between the two States
"At this stage it is very difficult to say, whether this agreement is historic or indeed a disaster. Though we would like to give this Government the benefit of the doubt, however the rush to reach an agreement without being transparent, only fuel speculations," VPP chief Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit said.
Basaiawmoit said that there are many pertinent questions that need to be asked. Firstly, why is the Government not willing to place the details of the arrangement in the public domain and, secondly, whether the stakeholders have been informed about the entire process before finalizing the agreement?
He also said that there is also an effort on the part of the present dispensation to convey to the people of the State that after fifty years of statehood it has finally managed to settle this boundary problem.
"People are also made to believe, that the Meghalaya does not have a boundary ever since the State was carved out of Assam and the present agreement between the two States was made possible due to the consideration and efforts of the NDA government at the Centre," Basaiawmoit said.
The VPP chief said that the fact remains that no State can become a unit of the Indian federation without a proper boundary.
Basaiawmoit said that the territory for the autonomous State of Meghalaya was defined by the Assam Re-organisation Act, 1969 and the boundary of the full-fledged State of Meghalaya has been defined by the North East Reorganisation Act, 1971.
"Therefore, the narrative created by both the State and the Central Government that Meghalaya does not have a proper boundary is misleading and baseless," he said.
Moreover, he said, while on one hand one is witnessing a dialogue on the border issue between the two States, but on the other hand there is a continuous and unrelenting encroachment by Assam into the territories of Meghalaya.
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