Tension Persists in Lapangap as Border Talks Fail to Settle Cultivation Row

Overview

• A peace meeting between Meghalaya and Assam officials ended without a firm resolution and a stone‑pelting confrontation left one person with minor injuries after Monday’s talks.
• Additional police were deployed to the Lapangap/Tapat sector to maintain order and the Meghalaya government has formally barred tree plantations in the disputed area while allowing seasonal paddy cultivation to continue.
• The core disagreement is over land use: Meghalaya villagers proposed joint seasonal cultivation of highlands, while Assam representatives pushed for tree plantations that Meghalaya says would create semi‑permanent claims.
• Meghalaya officials accused some Assam actors of backtracking on verbal understandings from local talks, and chief ministers from both states are now involved as follow‑up negotiations are planned.
• The dispute is decades old, the area is administered by the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council, local student and village groups say repeated obstruction of cultivation has harmed livelihoods, and the sector will be raised again in the next phase of formal border talks.