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A mob has uprooted saplings and dismantled wooden structures erected to protect the plants, leading to tension in a village on disputed Assam-Meghalaya border, officials said.
According to PTI, The plantation drive in Lapangap village was conducted by the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council of Assam. Police personnel were deployed in the village.
A hill in Lapangap, on which the incident happened, is claimed by residents of both Meghalaya’s West Jaintia Hills district and Karbi Anglong district of Assam.
Around 400 people of Lapangap and other villages, backed by members of several social organisations of Meghalaya, went to the plantation area, uprooted the saplings and burnt the wooden structure around 11 am, claiming that Assam was trying to encroach into their state by carrying out the plantation.
West Jaintia Hills district Deputy Commissioner Abhinav Kumar Singh said adequate police forces have been deployed and the situation is now under control.
“Plantation activities were carried out by the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council without prior notice to the (West Jaintia Hills) district administrations,” Singh told PTI.
He said the information regarding the plantation first reached the district administration a week ago and “we have restrained our people from going to the site as the peace meeting was supposed to be held today.”
The scheduled peace meeting at Tahpat village did not take place as nobody turned up, the official said.
Adequate police forces were deployed at the site along with three border magistrates for effective coordination with the Assam government.
Singh said that the police personnel will be stationed at the site to check untoward incidents.
Police and civic officers from Karbi Anglong also visited the spot along with Meghalaya’s border magistrates and tension was defused, he said.
