Shillong: One person died and another was injured in a clash that broke out between villagers along the Assam-Meghalaya border over harvesting rights on Thursday.
The area where the clash took place falls in Meghalaya’s West Jaiñtia Hills and Assam’s West Karbi Anglong district, and is one of the six stretches where the two states are yet to arrive at a settlement.
The deceased has been identified as Orivel Timung, 45, of Tahpat from Assam. Officials said he succumbed to injuries sustained during the clash.
Police said the incident took place when villagers from Meghalaya were harvesting paddy in the border area, and residents from Assam allegedly tried to stop them, leading to violence.
“By the time we reached, the situation had already turned ugly. We managed to bring things under control, but sadly, one person had already succumbed,” said a police officer present at the scene.
The officer said the incident site falls within Meghalaya’s jurisdiction, and a case was registered at Nartiang Police Station.
Police have temporarily suspended all farming and harvesting activities in the area.
Authorities in West Jaiñtia Hills and West Karbi Anglong have clamped curfew along the border villages to prevent further violence.
There has been tension in the area over the past week over claims and counterclaims from both sides over ownership of the area that was being harvested. Earlier this week, a meeting of the inter-state border peace committee was also held, where it was decided that development and agriculture activities in the area would be suspended till peace was restored.
{{/usCountry}}There has been tension in the area over the past week over claims and counterclaims from both sides over ownership of the area that was being harvested. Earlier this week, a meeting of the inter-state border peace committee was also held, where it was decided that development and agriculture activities in the area would be suspended till peace was restored.
{{/usCountry}}The boundary disputes between Assam and Meghalaya go back to 1972, when Meghalaya was carved out of Assam as a separate state. The border was demarcated under the Assam Reorganisation Act, 1971—a framework Meghalaya has contested ever since. Over the years, the two states have held 32 rounds of official meetings, attempting to resolve 12 areas of difference spanning over 2,700 sq km.
In March 2022, Assam and Meghalaya signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, resolving six of the 12 disputed sectors. Under this MoU, out of 36.79 sq km of contested land, Assam retained 18.46 sq km and Meghalaya received 18.33 sq km—a near-equal division hailed as a model for cooperative federalism.
However, the six unresolved areas—including Block I, Block II, Langpih, Deshdoomreah, Khanduli, and Nongwah-Mawtamur—remain flashpoints, particularly due to ethnic sensitivities, historical claims, and lack of ground-level enforcement.
The Lapangap–Tahpat stretch, where a person died on Thursday, falls under Block-II.