Staff Reporter
Shillong, Sept 21: BJP legislator from South Shillong Sanbor Shullai today urge the Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to take suo moto cognizance of the threats issued by the All Assam United Motor Transport Association to stop transportation of goods to Meghalaya.
In a statement, Shullai said, "The recent and widely publicized statements by All Assam United Motor Transport Association threatening to stop the transport of all goods to Meghalaya, including daily essential items are highly objectionable and deserve to be strongly condemned. Such a step goes against the centuries old bond shared by our people, breaks the spirit of brotherhood amongst Northeast states."
"I would request the honourable chief minister of Assam and also the NEDA chief convener shri Himanta Biswa Sharma that the Assam government should take Suo motto cognizance of such threats which adversely affect the lives of common people," he added.
Shullai said that such contentious matters need to be amicably resolved between both the associations. An inspiration can be taken from measures adopted by others state like Sikkim and Darjeeling in West Bengal, where stakeholders of both the states agreed upon some common working procedures.
Further, the MLA said that concern raised by All Khasi Meghalaya Tourist Taxi Association is genuine, however, it should be mutually resolved with the Assam tourist taxi association.
"Both the parties should come to an understanding which will benefit common people and tourists alike," he said while adding "We, as stakeholders in Meghalaya, need to bring in measures by giving better facilities in terms of reasonable rates, better amenities and friendly behaviour so that tourists coming from outside the state feel more comfortable, enjoy their stay in Meghalaya and prefer local tourist cabs. All tourist taxi associations of Meghalaya and other stakeholders should sit across the table and discuss this matter to promote tourism."
He informed that the Government of Meghalaya under the leadership of Conrad Sangma has taken enough measures to boost the Tourism industry, but we need to properly grab and build upon this opportunity.
Furthermore, Meghalaya Tourism is likely to touch its peak within the next 10 years as the initiative taken by the MDA government can increase our Tourism capacity upto 50 lakhs per year.
"So, it’s in the interest of both the states that a common understanding be reached between both Assam and Meghalaya tourist taxi associations so that it can benefit the region," he asserted.
Staff Reporter
Shillong, Sept 14: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma today said issues related to the long pending boundary dispute with Assam can only be resolved through discussion and dialogue but not through confrontation.
His statement came after the Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) Laban Circle had threatened to close down the Karbi Hemtun (Guest House) if the Karbi people and Assam government continue to illegally encroach and harass Khasi people in West Jaintia Hills District.
The Karbi Hemtun was inaugurated jointly by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Meghalaya Chief Minister on Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters at the sidelines of a function, Sangma said that confrontation is not the solution.
“We are in India and obviously we have to work and discuss matters and live in peace and harmony. There are challenges, there are complications which we have to work out but it cannot be worked out by confrontation. Solutions can only come with discussion and dialogue, with understanding and trust and hence we need to ensure that we build that trust with our counterparts, be firmed with our negotiations and our terms, find ways in which we can accommodate each other and obviously in important occasions like these, these are trust-building measures,” he said.
He added, “So tomorrow you want to put up a Meghalaya House in Assam or Guwahati and if somebody says well you cannot do it, I don’t think that is a trust-building mechanism.”
"Yes, I am not saying that there are no concerns, there are concerns but to resolve those concerns, confrontation is not the solution. We need to work together to build trust and in an amicable manner move forward and that is what the message was yesterday (during the inauguration of the Karbi House),” the CM said.
Meanwhile, Sangma informed that the chief ministers of Assam and Meghalaya will finalise a firm program related to the second phase of border talks, in the next couple of days.
Assam and Arunachal Pradesh on Thursday signed an agreement to settle the long-pending disputes along their over 800 km border.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Arunachal Pradesh counterpart Pema Khandu signed the agreement in presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi.
After signing the deal, Shah said that they all have witnessed a historic moment in the northeast to resolve the border dispute between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, pending for decades.
He said that the report of the Local Commission on this dispute kept circling around for decades, but now been accepted by both the states and Thursday's agreement would prove to be a milestone in the direction of realising Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dream of a developed, peaceful and conflict-free northeast.
Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, the Union Home Secretary and senior officials from the Centre and both the states were also present on the occasion.
Shah said that since 2018, the Centre, under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, has signed several accords including for Reang refugee settlement in Tripura, and several to end violence in the northeast.
He said that as a result of these peace agreements, so far more than 8,000 armed militants have shunned violence and joined the mainstream. Compared to 2014, there has been a 67 per cent reduction in incidents of violence, 60 per cent reduction in the number of deaths of security forces and 83 per cent reduction in the number of civilian deaths in the northeast, which is a big achievement of the government under the leadership of Prime Minister.
The Modi government has withdrawn AFSPA from many places in the northeast, he added.
Around 70 per cent police stations in Assam, 15 police stations in 6 districts in Manipur, all but 3 districts in Arunachal Pradesh, 7 districts in Nagaland, and entire Tripura and Meghalaya are now free from Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act.
Shah said that due to the efforts of the Modi government, all-round development is visible in the entire northeast today and this entire region is on the path of progress.
Thursday's agreement between the two states would end the dispute relating to 123 villages along the border, keeping in view the historical perspective, demographic profile, administrative convenience, proximity to the border, and the aspirations of the residents. Under the agreement, both the state governments have agreed that this agreement would be final with regards to these 123 disputed villages and neither state would make any new claim related to these areas or villages in future.
After the agreement, a detailed survey would be carried out by the Survey of India in presence of representatives of both state governments to determine their boundary.
(IANS)