Residents of Lapangap village along the disputed Meghalaya-Assam border on Wednesday marched in large numbers to the Meghalaya Secretariat in Shillong, alleging continued harassment of farmers by people from Assam’s Karbi Anglong region. Accompanied by members of the Khasi Students’ Union from the West Jaintia Hills district and the Jaintia National Council (JNC), the protesters assembled at Barik Point before proceeding towards the Main Secretariat. Amid heightened security, the demonstrators pushed past police barricades and gathered outside the Secretariat gate, demanding immediate government intervention.
The residents of Lapangap village in Meghalaya’s West Jaintia Hills have demanded immediate and full-scale security deployment to protect farmers and cultivation fields, with Assistant headman of Lapangap, Samkhih Situng, stating that the villagers’ foremost demand was to ensure uninterrupted cultivation under government protection. The villagers alleged repeated attacks on agricultural land and destruction of standing crops from across the Karbi Anglong side of Assam, raising concerns over the safety of farmers and their livelihood.
Speaking after a meeting with Deputy Chief Minister Sniawbhalang Dhar in Shillong, Situng said the villagers were seeking concrete security assurances from the government before resuming cultivation activities in full swing.
“Our main demand, the first demand we want to raise to the government is to give full protection to the farmers of Lapangap village. We had meeting with deputy Chief Minister Snaiwbhalang Dhar and he has given as assurance that tomorrow onwards we the farmers of Lapangap we can continue with our cultivation and we have discussed in the meeting that of this assurance given by the government doesn’t happen then we have to take another step just to get protection for the cultivation for our farmers,” he said.
Highlighting the difficulties faced by cultivators in the border village, Situng alleged that farmers have repeatedly come under harassment while working on their own land.
“The harassment we face all the time like we do cultivation in our land and from the Kabi side at night they come and destroy all our paddy fields. We hope the government will take this Lapangap issue very seriously and to provide us full security and allow us to do cultivation free. We want full deployment of forces like SF10 and all,” he added.
