Meghalaya leads development in Assam's Umthuli village amid jurisdiction overlap
Despite being under Assam's administrative control, Umthuli village on Asasam-Meghalaya border sees 70% of development carried out by Meghalaya govt.
A footbridge built by the Meghalaya government over the Dron river in Kyrshai area.
Umthuli village, May 8: Umthuli village, inhabited by 70 families of the Garo ethnic group, is administratively a village under Chhaygaon revenue circle and Chhaygaon LAC on the Assam-Meghalaya border, but many development works in the village have been taken up by the Meghalaya government.
Following the restructuring of the Assembly constituencies in Assam, Umthuli village has been included in the Boko constituency this time.
To reach Umthuli village, one has to cross several small weak wooden bridges along a dirt road, about 7 km west of Borjhar on the Chhaygaon-Ukiam road. There is also a dirt road leading to Umthuli from near the border police station in Ukiam. However, concrete bridges are being constructed around the Borjhar area.
On the way to Umthuli through Borjhar village, one has to pass through the villages of Uwarigarh or Garobasti, Dighal Beel and Noonmati. More than 300 families from Rabha and Garo mixed ethnic groups live in Borjhar village. There are also Garo ethnic groups inhabiting Dighal Beel, Uwarigarh and Noonmati. There is a Rabha and Garo village called Gambal Chiring, one kilometre from Umthuli along this road.
There is a 30-km long mountainous dirt road from Borjhar to lower Lampi via Umthuli. Along this road, there are several Assamese villages until one reaches lower Lampi.
It may be stated here that the development done by the Assam government in Umthuli village includes providing electricity, voter cards, ration cards and PAN cards.
Regarding health facilities, there is a sub-health centre in Ukiam, eight km away.
However, the health centre does not have any medical facilities except for injections and vaccinations for children and women. Therefore, in case of emergency treatment, patients have to be taken to Chhaygaon or Govardhan.
On the other hand, the Meghalaya government has kind of flooded the village with Mahatma Gandhi NREGA funds.
It is no exaggeration to say that Meghalaya has completed nearly 70 per cent of the development of the village. The Meghalaya Education Department has set up a Garo medium primary school in the village. A footbridge has been built over the Dron river flowing through the village. Another wide footbridge is also being built along the old footbridge to accommodate four-wheelers.
More than 40 government houses have been built by the Meghalaya government, which has also provided paved sidewalks and built telephone towers in the village. The entire village has been supplied with drinking water. The information boards posted by the Nangstein Development Zone in the West Khasi Hills district of the State are a vivid proof of this.