Meghalaya Government has asked Centre to exert “diplomatic pressure” on Bangladesh to deny sanctuaries for our ultras on the neighbour’s soil. “I told the Deputy Prime Minister that Bangladesh should not harbour them (ultras) to create problem here. This was also one of the decisions taken in the recent North Eastern Council (NEC) meeting in Gangtok,” said chief minister Lapang. He did not present a list of militant hideouts in Bangladesh. I am not supposed to know such locations”, he said in an obvious dig at his Tripura counterpart, the Marxist Sarkar, who has sent a a list of sites and names to New Delhi. In his view better road network along the border with Bangladesh is what is needed to check the movement of insurgents to and from Bangladesh. “The border roads need repair. The roads are really in a bad shape. There are four major bridges in the border. These too are in bad shape. No vehicle can ply on them. I impressed upon the Deputy Prime Minister to see that sufficient funds are set apart for maintenance of roads along the border,” Lapang said. 

Reopen 64 border bazars

The chief minister is keen that the Centre reopens the border haats that were closed for over 30 years along the Bangladesh border. It will help bilateral trade. The closing of ‘haats’ dealt a severe blow to the economy of the border villages. Official trade is at a ‘standstill’. Some ‘informal trade’ however continued all along the 423 km border without benefiting the state exchequer. Chief Minister Lapang received a patient hearing from L K Advani, the Deputy Prime Minister when he met him in New Delhi. He is not satisfied with the official clearance to opening just five haats. He wants all haats to be made functional. Another item on Lapang’s wish list is upgrade to Umroi airport. It is capable of receiving 50- seater aircraft only. “We want bigger air craft to land here. We also need a four lane highway from Guwahati to Shillong,” Mr. Lapang said.

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