MEGHALAYA: BORDER FENCING DISPLACED 100 FAMILIES

The construction of a border fence, along the Zero Line, has displaced at least 100 families in Meghalaya's South Garo Hills, forcing them to live on the other side of the fence, an NPP legislator told the Assembly. Rakkam A Sangma, an MLA from Rongara Siju constituency, demanded that the construction work should be limited to a distance of 150 yards from the Zero Line and urged the state government to take up the matter with the Centre. During a debate on the Governor Ganga Prasad's address in Assembly, which resumed business after a gap of 12 days, the National People's Party (NPP) MLA said, over 100 families have moved to the other side of the border due to the construction work. Meghalaya shares 443-km-long border with Bangladesh.

To make matters worse, he said, these families do not get any support from the state for health, electricity and other facilities, he asserted. "As per convention, the fencing should be erected 150 yards away from the border. In this case, the fencing has stretched to over 200-300 metres from the border. In some places, it even went up to half a kilometre from the Zero Line," he said.