Shillong, Feb. 6: The situation in Langpih returned to normal today following a stand-off between the police forces of both Assam and Meghalaya on Saturday at the disputed site in West Khasi Hills. Trouble had broken out over renovation work of a market.
The district administration had sent a magistrate to carry out verification of the ground situation.
Assam police had obstructed the renovation and expansion work of a market at Langpih on Saturday, resulting in the intervention of the Meghalaya police.
While the Assam policemen wanted the work to be halted, the Meghalaya police personnel had insisted that there was no harm in carrying out the work.
The additional deputy commissioner of West Khasi Hills, W. Nongsiej, who visited Langpih yesterday, said the situation had returned to normal today.
There is already an official-level agreement that though status quo needs to be maintained as far as the disputed area is concerned, Assam and Meghalaya should not obstruct the development work.
The West Khasi Hills superintendent of police, R. Muthu, said there was no report of any tension on the border. "The existing police force has been deployed and we are also keeping vigil," Muthu said.
The incident of four Khasi villagers being killed in police firing on May 14, 2010, at Lagnpih had resulted in the demand for a permanent settlement of the border dispute.
On August 9 last year, a chief secretary-level meeting was held to discuss the boundary problem.
During the meeting, the Meghalaya government had conveyed to its counterpart that there are nearly 2,700 square km in all the 12 sectors or areas of differences, including Langpih on the Assam-Meghalaya border, which had originally belonged to Meghalaya. The Meghalaya delegation also submitted documents and maps related to its claim on the 12 sectors on the Assam-Meghalaya border, after proper research. It supported the claim with legal and constitutional back-up.
The meeting, however, decided that Meghalaya and Assam would go through the details of the 12 sectors or areas of differences on the Assam-Meghalaya border before arriving at a final settlement. Both Assam and Meghalaya also agreed not to object to any development activities in the disputed areas provided both the states got prior information in this regard.
The 12 areas of difference include Upper Tarabari, Gizang reserve forest, Hahim, Langpih, Borduar, Boklapara, Nongwah-Matamur, Khanapara-Pillangkata, Deshdemoreah, Blocks I and II, Khanduli-Psiar and Ratacherra.
The first chief ministerial-level meeting to discuss the border dispute was held on June 5, 2010, in Dispur soon after the Langpih firing.
During this meeting, a decision was arrived at to entrust the matter to a committee of chief secretaries of both the affected states to prepare the modalities for solving the dispute.
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