Guwahati: The Congress party will raise the concerns of residents of Lumpi, a village along the Assam-Meghalaya border, in the ongoing autumn session of the Assembly, said the leader of the opposition Debabrata Saikia.
A team of Congress party leaders including Saikia, executive president Rana Goswami, deputy leader of Opposition Rakibul Hussain and Boko MLA Nandita Das, visited the disputed Lumpi area along the Assam- Meghalaya border.
“We will raise the issue of the Lumpi sector in the assembly session. We will represent the people. They do not wish to stay with Meghalaya. There is a constitutional rule for resolving border disputes. There are border disputes between Punjab and Haryana and Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. But none of them want to settle the disputes like our chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma,” East Mojo quoted Saikia as saying.
Stating that there is protest everywhere, he said even ruling party MLA Amyio Kumar Bhuyan and MP Topon Kumar Gogoi protested against it.
“We have reasons to believe that our border is not protected under the leadership of Himanta Biswa Sarma,” Saikia said.
“The border between the two states was settled in 1971. In 1985, the Chandrasur Commission also rejected Meghalaya’s claim on Lumpi. So, there is no question of re-settlement,” he added.
Assam Congress working president Rana Goswami the residents of Lumpi are not ready to stay with Meghalaya. “They opt to stay with Assam,” he said
“The people are afraid of the situation here. The Assam government is trying to settle the dispute without following constitutional rules,” Goswami claimed.
Lumpi is one of the six areas of dispute between Assam and Meghalaya. The two states have been claiming ownership of the village for more than half a century.