Boko MLA Nandita Das visited disputed areas along Assam-Meghalaya border

A CORRESPONDENT

BOKO: Boko constituency MLA Nandita Das visited disputed areas in Boko constituency along the Assam-Meghalaya border on Friday.

A team from Meghalaya recently entered Assam's border areas and they marked various areas with red and white colour on Assam's road. After the incident, the situation in those areas was tense as people of the areas thought that the areas would be brought under Meghalaya state. On the other hand, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma directed all authorities to solve the inter-State border issue after a meeting held in Guwahati with Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on August 6. As a part of this, along with Boko MLA Nandita Das, West Kamrup Divisional Forest Officer Dimpy Bora, Boko Revenue Circle Officer Raj Baruah and Officer in- charge of Boko PS, Bharat Chandra Knowar visited border areas.

When asked about inclusion in Meghalaya state, a villager, Becklin G. Momon from Salbari village under Boko constituency, said that they would never support Meghalaya. The number of voters in the village was around 300 and all of them wanted to stay in Assam, he said. He also requested the Chief Minister of Assam to develop the Garo tribal people in Assam by giving them Garo Autonomous Council.

Meanwhile, MLA Nandita Das said that Meghalaya had allegedly encroached hectares of land of Assam in order to increase the number of voters, forest areas and tourist spots. She added that in Boko constituency, four tourist spots have already been encroached upon. They are Malang Hohuwa Waterfall, Nilganga Waterfall, Hahim picnic spot and Amrengkona picnic spot. MLA Nandita Das requested the Assam Government to contemplate on this before permanent settlement of the inter-State border issue.

DFO Dimpy Bora said that many hectares of forest land under Gijang Reserve Forest and Bogai Khas Reserve Forest had already been encroached upon by unidentified people. But it was difficult to say whether they were from Meghalaya or Assam, she added.

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