Shillong, Aug 4: Congress MLA from Mawlai, PT Sawkmie has expressed his strong opposition to the supposed give and take policy or land swap deal in bid to resolve the interstate boundary issue between Assam and Meghalaya.
Justifying his stand, he said, “Based on the ground report, we have seen Assam has encroached our land and our people have not been doing that. So we go by this policy we will be at a loss and will lose majority of our land to Assam.”
He also stated that his party is very clear that it will not accept the ‘give and take policy’.
Instead, Sawkmie suggested that the discussion should be based on the documents available, adding that it is a complex issue and lot of emotions are connected with this issue.
Don’t expect too much
He, however, said it was good to see that talks are talking place on the crucial issue. At the same time, he opined that too much shouldn’t be expected immediately; it will take a long time.
“Since this will be a first roundtable talk so we shouldn’t have too much expectations that on day one itself everything will be solved. It will take a lot of time,” he said.
He also opined that the issue is unlikely to be resolved before Meghalaya celebrates its 50th statehood next year.
The second official Chief Minister level talks between Assam and Meghalaya will be held on August 6 at Guwahati. The first official discussion was held in Shillong on July 23, 2021. Following the first meeting, Meghalaya government has formed regional committees to gather information and consensus at the grassroot level.
