Meghalaya Chief Minister Donkupar Roy assured the Coordination Committee on Indo-Bangladesh Border Fencing (CCIBBF) that his Government would take up its recommendations on border fencing with the Union Government, CCIBBF spokesman G H Kharsanlor told reporters immediately after meeting Roy on Monday.

“The Chief Minister will be speaking to New Delhi on our recommendations relating to border fencing with the neighbouring Bangladesh,” Kharsanlor said.

Incidentally, Roy was the chairman of the CCIBBF when he was the Deputy CM in the former Congress-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) Government. Now he is heading the Meghalaya Progressive Alliance (MPA) Government.

The CCIBBF has recommended that fencing work from Nongjri (East Khasi Hills) to Jaliakhola (Jaintia Hills) (pillar no 1,251 to 1,299) with Bangladesh should be kept under suspension and fresh survey be conducted. Further, it has recommended that the border fencing with Hingeria to Minispara (pillar no 1,300 to 1,334) should be done from zero line with Bangladesh. The committee has also recommended that fencing work from Ratacherra to Mikirpara can continue as the land falls under the reserve forest.

The CCIBBF was formed after villagers from Meghalaya’s border areas demanded halting of fencing work, saying that some of their cultivable land will fall on the other side of the border once fencing was completed.