Assam and Meghalaya, on Tuesday, signed an agreement to resolve their 50-year-old border dispute in six of the 12 locations, in what is being hailed as a "historic day" for the Northeast.
The agreement was signed in the presence of Home Minister Amit Shah and chief ministers of Assam and Meghalaya Himanta Biswa Sarma and Conrad Sangma respectively. The pact will resolve the protracted dispute in six of the 12 places along the 884.9 km border between the two states.
"It is a historic day for the Northeast," Shah said at the function held at the ministry of home affairs here. "Six out of 12 points of the dispute has been resolved, which comprises nearly 70 per cent of the boundary. The remaining six points will be resolved at the earliest," the home minister said.
There are 36 villages in the six places, covering an area of 36.79 sq km, with regard to which the agreement has been reached.
“Union home minister requested to resolve the border disputes between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. I had a meeting with AP CM where we formed a road map to settle 122 disputed points. Initial discussions have started with the CMs of Mizoram and Nagaland. It is a historic day for us. After this MoU, in the next six-seven months, we aim to resolve the issue of the remaining disputed sites. We will work towards making the Northeast region a growth engine in the country,” Sarma said.
"Out of 12 areas of difference, we have come to an agreement with Assam on 6 areas. Further, a survey will be done by Survey of India with both states' involvement, and when that is done, actual demarcation will take place," Sangma said.
Sangma also thanked Shah for "giving the direction to resolve the border disputes."
The two states had formed three committees each in August last year to go into the boundary question. The constitution of the panels had followed two rounds of talks between Sarma and Sangma where the neighbouring states resolved to settle the dispute in a phased manner.
According to the joint final set of recommendations made by the committees, out of 36.79 sqkm disputed area taken up for settlement in the first phase, Assam will get full control of 18.51 sqkm and Meghalaya 18.28 sq km.
Out of the 12 points of dispute between Assam and Meghalaya, the six areas with relatively less critical differences were taken up in the first phase.
The boundary dispute between Assam and Meghalaya has lingered for 50 years. However, the effort to resolve it gained pace in recent times.
Meghalaya was carved out of Assam as a separate state in 1972 but the new state had challenged the Assam Reorganisation Act, 1971, leading to dispute in 12 locations in the border areas.
—With PTI inputs
