Question Hour: Safety and Security of people living in Border Areas

Mr Speaker sir reply to Star question one so these steps taken by the government to ensure Safety and Security for the people living in the Border areas both National and international are as follows a Interstate border one along the interstate border the government has created seven new border outposts in addition to the existing police stations and outposts new police stations and police outposts in close proximity to the interstate border of Assam have also been created three Deputy commissioners of the Border districts having areas of differences are in regular touch with their counterpart Deputy Commissioners from

Assam four the standing the standard operating procedure has also been issued to the superintendents of police regarding measures to maintain peace and Tranquility in the areas of difference along the interstate border five Regional committees headed by cabinet ministers have been formed for resolving the remaining six areas of differences of difference B International voter one there are 14 police stations which shares the jurisdiction boundary with the international border two along the indo-bangla border there are outposts and infiltration check posts in districts bordering Bangladesh three regular foot mobile and long range patrolling is conducted along the border

by police Personnel sir I appreciate the honorable Minister for his extensive reply on my question so the reply that we used to get in this I guess house and what is happening Underground seems to not support each other so I'm raising this question because till today there is a constant fear in the mind of the people living in the Border areas so may I know from The Honorable chief minister what actually is the reason that these people living in the Border areas are still under constant fear I don't know maybe it is a soft approach

and gentleman approach of the government of megalia that has emboldened the counterparts even to outrightly claim mukro inside the Assam assembly so may I know what actually is the reason sir is uh the supplementary question that has been asked by The Honorable member uh is of course requires a much larger debate it will not be possible for me to go into the details of all those aspects during question hour though his concerns are definitely genuine uh but in short we have seen that in the last 50 years that in the Border areas and especially in

the areas of differences uh there have been different incidents that have taken place in the past and we could gauge from the way the discussions or the the incidents have happened and the different tensions that are there in these specific areas that it definitely stems from the border issue and the differences that we have and the fact that the Border area resolution has not been reached and because of these differences that are there in these border areas there are situations where the tension builds up from both sides and it's not something that happens like on

a particular day that this incident happened but it's a sequence of events and different situations that finally lead to uh different incidents that are taking place and that is the reason why in the previous government in MDA government we were very very keen to ensure that we resolve the Border issue once and for all because once we are able to resolve these issues once we're able to mark and demarcate the different areas uh we expect that the different kind of tension that is there because of the claims and counter claims the movements that take place

from both sides uh different development projects are affected uh all these aspects then leads to uh these different incidents happening and there is a continuous tension and pressure and that's why we are firm as a government that in the last in the first MDA government we uh came to a memorandum of understanding in terms of the first six areas of differences and we are working towards ensuring that as we move forward we're able to resolve the other six areas of differences so in a nutshell that is what the Crux of the problem is but of

course there are many more facts and issues that are there there are specific to particular locations which will require a larger debate sir so I understand that I also I don't want to raise the body issue I just want to know about the Safety and Security of the people this is a must whether we settle the Border whether it takes time or we can settle the water now but at least the Safety and Security of the people should not be compromised under any circumstances so reports keep coming sir even today that the people living in

the border means they are really frightening when they see that these government officials keep coming to the interior part of meghali your second supplementary yeah yeah I I will come to that so therefore may I know what actually what is the exact step that the government has taken to ensure that this government of meghalaya will not compromise as far as the security and safety of the people is concerned we don't want another incidence of firing of death at cut in the other areas that is my question sir sir uh again as I said the concerns

of The Honorable member are definitely genuine and uh as we have moved forward so that this uh as I mentioned the uh at different levels and different uh times uh in the past 50 years uh tensions have built up during different uh occasions but in order to ensure that we are able to control the situation and also provide the safety security and avoid as The Honorable mentioned any future incidents uh of course number one step is to strengthen our own forces within our borders and that is very important because it builds up the confidence of

the people and hence has mentioned that we have gone ahead and you know sanctioned a new border Outpost a new outposts new police stations and we have enhanced the Manpower and all these different aspects and infrastructure work also will start out there so all these infrastructure in terms of security so all these aspects will overall lead to ensure that our Manpower and our police force is increased and we are our presence is felt so that there's a sense of confidence among our people that's number one sir number two while we do that it is also

very important that we are continuously in touch with the other side and therefore uh you know in the in the meeting that was held uh among the chief secretaries on the 21st of June 2019 uh it was decided that an sop should be created uh and the the different procedures should be followed to ensure that continuous communication is there with the counterparts from the Assam side and hence a very lengthy protocol and the system was created on the 30th of September 2020 where the SPs of the the areas where the differences are there should have

quarterly meetings with their counterparts uh you know then different long uh almost uh six seven pointer sop has been created where uh not just in terms of physical meetings but every week or every two two weeks they should be in touch uh you know with each other on the phone uh communication should take place the deputy Commissioners should also coordinate among each other if there are any kind of development works that are taking place uh then the communication should be taken and our communication should be done and permission or some kind of an NOC should

be given by the other side uh because we've seen that most of these different tensions build up because uh you know some sites starts doing some work the other side then reacts to it saying that this is Mega lab or the other side says this is a sum and it's because of the lack of communication sometimes that we see a lot of things that can be avoided uh lead ultimately is not avoided and we see the tension building up so hence we realize that communication coordination with our counterparts is very important so this is now

happening at the district levels this is happening at the police station level this is happening at the chief secretary level this is happening at the level of the osds from both sides uh who are specifically meant to deal with the situations throughout the state and most importantly this is happening at the chief Minister's level also where even a small incident that takes place uh we are in touch I am in touch directly with the honorable chief minister of Assam to ensure that no none of these situations escalates and as far as possible of course we

want to ensure that none of these incidents take place in the long run so therefore it is a it's a it's a large exercise it requires a lot of coordination and as I said uh you know this continuous communication is something that is very important so building up the confidence of our people by ensuring our Manpower our infrastructure and security is increased in these sensitive areas and number two communication and coordination with the counterparts to ensure that proper information is always there any small incident takes place it's immediately uh we neutralize it so this kind

of uh framework is what we are working on and we have seen that many situations which were there we were able to avoid a lot of number of situations because of this good communication that we're having and let me show The Honorable member and the house that our efforts are continuously on to ensure that our people at the level at the Border level at the border areas especially in the areas of differences uh there are feel they feel comfortable and ensure that we are able to overall improve the overall confidence level that they have at

the grassroot level with these steps that we're taking so so it's according to the reply a Forza The Honorable the chief minister has mentioned that a standard of operating procedure has also been issued to the Sprint telling Talent of police regarding measures to maintain peace and tranquility and areas of difference along the interstate model so in this particular issue sir I would like to ask the honorable chief minister what is a cane of standard operating procedure in the event of the breach of security and safety to the people living in the broad areas by the

counterparts so the standard operating procedure is that is mentioned in the reply is specific to ensure that we are able to maintain the peace so therefore the reference is on maintenance of peace and as I mentioned we have realized that a large number of incidents take place because of all the tension builds up because of the communication gap that is there so this particular sop that I'm referring to is meant to ensure that continuous communication takes place the meetings between the SPs are regularly done between the OCS are regularly done so this is what this

particular uh sop that we're referring to obviously sir if the situation is complicated where we have uh different situations that are built up then as per law all the actions are taken and uh necessary steps are taken as per law so if there is a situation where certain firings take place then the fir is lodged we take up the matter even at a political level we take up the matter even at Central level so it all depends on the situation that is there and as per law and as per the situation that is there uh

necessary steps are taken ah wow don't keep this uh thank you Mr Speaker so obviously I want to move from The Honorable achievements When will the functions sir it is already functioning and the sanction also has already been canceled one more question sir so I just want to know whether the land has been identified or not for setting up of this what are our Force so that information is not with me as of now for a particular thing but temporary Arrangement has been made and the temporary location has been identified but for a permanent location

that information is not there with me as of course huh so is it is just a genital reminder sir since uh during the last year incident that was happening so all of the people in mukro they won that the forest check it to be removed or to relocate to some other area so what are the steps that has been taken by the governments so as we're aware that this particular incident is under the commission of inquiries and hence we are not able to take up the entire matter this particular issue of this shifting of the

gate is very much within the inquiry commission's mandate because these are the circumstances under which this incident took place and hence uh it will not be appropriate for me to reply to that the inquiry commission is going on right now and I would urge that let the commission of inquiries first complete their investigations supplementary question exactly sir supplementary question sir I would like to get a clear clarification from honorable chief minister because you are completely confused about the area this particular area where it falls whether it falls it falls into US make a state or

awesome a state of Assam no this is not related to the principal question this is regarding the Safety and Security of the people yeah exactly you're talking about the the line of I mean exactly so there's also it's very relevant with the entire Safety and Security of the uh I mean for the benefit of The Honorable member first I have to ask him is he confused or he's asking me I'm confused no no the there still as a whole confused why because I don't think anybody is confused no no it sounds like you're confused the

people you put your question sir you could put yourself we are getting the statement from uh I mean we have seen the statement made by honorable children yes yes because of that I would like to know from this August house to get a clear picture where the mukro areas fall into a state of Michaela of state of Assam so as you said correctly that this is not a part of this uh supplement this question but it's a very important issue uh as mentioned sir uh the uh honorable member himself sounds a bit confused about this

issue I have number one clearly stated yesterday that mukro is very much within the state of meghalaya there is no doubt about that sir whether it is from the Census code which is the two seven nine one nine two census code mukro Village is under jurisdiction of West Gente Hills mokro Village is also listed as having a VEC under the mg and RGS in Laskin block uh the election that took place there are polling stations of four mukro a and five mukro b following under makoya constituency with a population of voting of mukro a male

802 and female 794 and the elections uh were conducted and voting took place in the mukro village fair price shops from megales site of mukro a 235 Russian cards and 1285 beneficiaries and in mukro B 179 Russian cards and 944 beneficiaries are there in mokro Village also has got government state government medical state government buildings which is the mukro government LP school and the mukuro Health Center Health subcenter which is offering services to the people and so on and so forth sir as of uh 17 March in fact the mukro VEC has 502 job cards

issued and the residents of the area are getting the benefits to the state government in terms of the central schemes which have been implemented by megalized state government under pmayg jaljeevan sbm and other developmental activities so so I just wanted to clarify there is no confusion and the other statements being made are are statements that are made but our stand is very clear that macro is very much part of meghalaya and the facts and figures I've given to you clearly indicate that mukbrook is very much part of Mecca thank you next supplementary questions honorable chief

minister for reply the question which had put forward so I would like more beloved state of michalia then the last resident who's taking place five in innocent life has been taken unnecessary by the official from the Assam counterpart so whether the state government had a file Under Fire may I know this song sir as mentioned earlier that this is subjudice in the sense that there is a commission of inquiries and Sir as per rule 37.10 under the grows a procedure and conduct of business in the mega electricity of assembly it states that it shall not

ordinarily in terms of the conditions of accessibility of questions so it should not ordinarily ask about matter spending before any statutory tribunal or statutory Authority performing any judicial or quasi-judicial functions or any commissions or any commission or Court of inquiry so therefore I will not be able to go into much of the details because it's as per the rules but I can just for the satisfaction of The Honorable member mentioned to him that under the narcyang PS a case has been a fire has been existence hmm Solas if that is the case that you have

registered the uh I mean this incident which has taken place so may I know what the case number sir because this is for the benefiting not for me not for vvp but for the people of the state because excuse me sir because in my place there are times that Consciousness is far greater than written law what is exactly your question the case number yes sir as I mentioned that this entire thing is under the Judiciary uh inquiry right now commissions of inquiry and hence uh it will not be appropriate for me to go into all

the details and therefore uh the uh all the information and all is available in this file but I'm not have it right now with me but as I said uh if the honorable member would like then we'd make it available but as I said we would avoid wanting to go into details about the mukro because the invitive commissions is going on [Music]