Guwahati. Six people, including a forest worker, were killed in violence that broke out after Assam forest officials stopped a truck allegedly carrying illegal timber on the Assam-Meghalaya border in West Karbi Anglong district in the early hours of Tuesday.
Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, in a tweet tagging Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Vishwa Sharma, complained that Assam police and forest personnel entered Meghalaya and started firing without provocation. Sangma’s party is an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
However, Assam Police officials said that when the truck was stopped by the state Forest Department team in the state’s West Karbi Anglong district, a mob of people from the Meghalaya side attacked the team and the policemen, which led to an attack from the Assam side. Shots were fired to bring the situation under control.
Sangma said, “Of the six people killed in Mukroh village of West Jaintia Hills district, five are residents of Meghalaya, while one forest worker died in Assam.” The number mentioned is only four.
Sangma tweeted, “The Government of Meghalaya condemns in the strongest terms the incident under which the Assam Police and Assam Forest personnel entered into Meghalaya and opened fire without provocation. Meghalaya government will take all steps to get justice. Action will be taken against those responsible for this inhuman act.
Sangma has appealed to the people of his state to maintain peace and brotherhood in the state. He said that the State Government was taking all necessary steps to maintain law and order. West Karbi Anglong Superintendent of Police Imdad Ali told PTI that the truck was intercepted at Mukru area around 3 am by a team of the Assam Forest Department on the Meghalaya border.
He was going to West Jaintia Hills district illegally carrying wood. When the truck did not stop, the forest department personnel opened fire on it and punctured its tyre, he said. The driver, one of his helpers and another person were nabbed, while another person managed to escape, he said.
Ali said that the forest department personnel informed the officials of Jirikending police station about the incident. After this the police reached the spot. He said that after this, at around 5 am, a crowd of people from Meghalaya gathered on the spot carrying ‘daggers’ and other weapons and started demanding the release of the arrested people.
The mob surrounded and attacked the forest department personnel and the police following which the officials had to open fire to control the situation. Superintendent of Police Ali said, “A home guard of the forest department and three people from the Khasi community from Meghalaya were killed in the incident. The situation is now under control.
He told that the top officials of the district are reaching the border area. How the forest worker Vidyasingh Lekhte died, it is not yet clear. Sangma also announced a compensation of Rs five lakh each to the next of kin of the deceased. He tweeted, “Today there will be a cabinet meeting and the further course of action of the government regarding this incident will be decided.”
Meanwhile, a police officer here said that all the districts bordering Meghalaya have been put on alert and the police there have been asked to remain alert. “All the Superintendents of Police of the districts along the Meghalaya border have been asked to keep a close watch on any possible law and order situation but there is no restriction on inter-state movement of vehicles or people,” he said.
Assam and Meghalaya have been under dispute for a long time in 12 areas of the 884.9 km long inter-state border. The two northeastern states had signed a memorandum of understanding in March in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi, ending the dispute over six of these areas.
Both also started talks to resolve the dispute in the remaining six areas. Meghalaya was carved out of Assam in 1972 and challenged the Assam Reorganization Act, 1971.
