The Khasi and Jaintia communities of Assam have urged Meghalaya chief minister Conrad Sangma to help constitute a development council for the two communities in the state.
The Khasi-Jaintia Development Council Demand Committee in a memorandum submitted to chief minister Sangma, said he should help in constituting the council.
The Khasi-Jaintia body said that the council should be constituted in the greater interest of the two communities living in Assam, especially in South Assam’s Barak Valley.
It added that there are at least 1.70 lakh Khasi and Jaintia people living in more than 375 villages in Assam.
These people living in the interior parts of the region, are concentrated in the three districts of the Barak Valley and spread across all the 15 constituencies of the region.
The group further stated that the issue of creation of the council was taken up by the Congress government in 2015.
The Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs had also directed the Assam Government to take action with regard to creating the council.
Urging Sangma to take up the matter with his Assam counterpart, the organisation said that the plight of the two communities would be addressed through creation of the council.