Shillong, Nov. 21: A day after agreeing to a status quo on Langpih (Lampi), the Meghalaya government today said it would go ahead with setting up a police outpost in the area bordering Assam.

Meghalaya deputy chief minister in charge of home, H.S. Lyngdoh, told reporters today that the state would not back off from setting up the outpost in Langpih, despite Assam chief secretary P.C. Sharma ruling out such a possibility at a news conference in Byrnihat yesterday.

Meghalaya chief secretary Ranjan Chatterjee had remained silent during the announcement.

Meghalaya will also send two platoons of police personnel to Langpih once the 5km road from Ktiehthawiar at Lanja near Langpih was completed.

But when contacted for comments on yesterday’s meeting of the chief secretaries at Byrnihat, Meghalaya chief minister Donkupar Roy said: “At the moment, I cannot say anything. We will wait for the report of both the chief secretaries.”

According to Lyngdoh, the setting up of the police outpost and sending forces were aimed at providing security to the people residing in Langpih.

Assam had always maintained that Langpih was in Kamrup district and if Meghalaya set up a police outpost it would amount to encroachment.

Lyngdoh, however, iterated that Langpih was very much a part of Meghalaya, which falls under Raid Mynsaw in West Khasi Hills. “There is no dispute about Langpih because the area belongs to Meghalaya though certain parts are still occupied by Assam,” Lyngdoh said.

“As the intention of putting up the police outpost at Langpih is to provide security to the people, we need not discuss the matter with the Assam government since the area belongs to us,” Lyngdoh said.

The minister had announced his decision to set up the outpost in the recen- tly concluded Assembly session.

In Langpih, there are 40 villages belonging to the Khasis, while 40 villages belong to Garo families.

There are also around 380 Nepali families residing in the village.

At present, Meghalaya has set up a temporary police outpost at Lejadubi, 1km from Langpih, while Assam has a police outpost well inside Langpih.