Shillong, May 18: A Congress legislator from Garo hills today alleged that different rebel outfits and law enforcing agencies were harassing villagers in his constituency.

Raksamgre legislator Limison D. Sangma, while alleging that the GNLA had allegedly sent him an extortion notice for Rs 5 lakh through a text message recently, said villagers in his area were living in fear.

“During my recent visit to my constituency, many villagers said they were being harassed by different outfits operating in the area. They have to live in fear of the underground outfits as well as law enforcing agencies, which harass them in the name of anti-insurgency operations,” Sangma said in a statement.

According to the villagers, he said those who purchased new cars or built new houses or undertook economically viable activities were served with demand notes in the name of GNLA or ANVC (B).

Even the presidents and secretaries of the village employment councils were not left out, Sangma, a parliamentary secretary in the Congress-led Meghalaya United Alliance government, said.

He said some weekly markets in his area had been shut down for months for fear of extortion. Shopkeepers and businessmen from other places are afraid of going there to trade, thus making “our own local people suffer”, he added.

On the charge that all legislators were corrupt, Sangma said, “Corruption starts from the grassroots level. Do they think that candidates or MLAs win elections without spending money? I also welcome eradication of corruption from the state. But how? I appeal to all the underground outfits to prevent people from taking money from candidates during elections. Then development will automatically come. Therefore, all allegations of corruption against legislators are totally incorrect and baseless.”

He, therefore, appealed to all underground outfits to try and put an end to the problems and help bring everlasting peace to the Garo hills in particular and the state in general.

He also refuted claims made by GNLA that they had not demanded money from him. “I would like to clarify that the so-called GNLA did not ask for donations but purely made a demand, of which I have proof,” he said. Last year, he had received demand notices twice — for Rs 10 lakh in May and Rs 50 lakh in October. He said he also received a demand for Rs 7 lakh over phone during the Assembly elections this year.