SHILLONG, MAY 29: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma said Friday that his government and Assam have worked out “some measures” to defuse tensions at Lapangap along the inter-state border, following a meeting with Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in Guwahati.
Sangma, accompanied by Deputy Chief Minister Sniawbhalang Dhar, met Sarma at his office chamber in Guwahati.
Officials from both state governments, including district officials, were also present.
“The main purpose of our visit was to discuss the ongoing situation in Lapangap that is happening right now along the Assam-Meghalaya border,” Sangma said after the meeting.
“As you know there has been a lot of concern about it and for the last many days and in fact weeks, we have been trying to bring the different stakeholders together to resolve the issue and to find a way forward.”
Describing the meeting, he said, “We had a very positive and a very constructive meeting.”
Sangma said concrete steps would follow. “We have worked out some measures which could help us defuse the situation and our officials concerned will be taking steps in the next few days to try and resolve the issue,” he said.
He appealed to stakeholders on both sides to cooperate. “Through this particular message I would like to urge the people also and the officials and the stakeholders from both sides that we should work to make sure that we are able to resolve the problem. We should work in a positive manner and we should work in a constructive manner and trust each other and work in such a manner that we can find not the solution for short-term but also in the long run,” Sangma said.
Talks on the larger border issue will resume once Assam’s new cabinet is in place, he added.
“We have also decided that once the Assam government is fully in place in terms of all the different cabinet ministers, once the oath is taken place, the further discussion on the larger context of the border issue will take place then,” he said.
“So we will take a call at that point in time for the larger context, but today’s meeting was limited to the Lapangap issue and we are very hopeful that we are able to resolve the situation and we seek the cooperation from all stakeholders at this point in time,” Sangma said.
