Assam, Meghalaya CMs agree to resolve border row in phased manner

GUWAHATI: The Assam and Meghalaya governments on Friday agreed to form three committees to resolve their long pending boundary dispute in a phased manner with the initial focus on the less complicated areas of contention.

Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Meghalaya counterpart Conrad Sangma, in a meeting in Guwahati, said the committees will be headed by ministers of both the states and will have five members from each side, including Cabinet ministers, bureaucrats and local representatives.

“Both governments are clear that we want to resolve the differences between the states. There is a strong political will to find an amicable solution. Both agreed that the disputes should be resolved in a respectful manner,” Sangma said.

This is the second meeting between the two chief ministers who earlier met in Meghalaya on July 23 to discuss the issue. While Meghalaya had already made a presentation on their views at the meeting in Shillong, the Assam government did the same on Friday. “The strategy we have decided to follow is to take up the matter in a phased manner. There are areas which are less complicated, some slightly more and some very complicated,” Sangma said.

Of the 12 disputed areas, the six which will be taken up for discussion in the first phase are Tarabari, Gizang, Hahim, Boklapara, Khanapara-Pilangkata and Ratacherra. The areas fall under Kamrup, Kamrup (Metropolitan) and Cachar districts of Assam and West Khasi Hills, Ri Bhoi and East Jaintia Hills districts of Meghalaya.

“We don’t have any dispute from the Assam side but the problem arose because Meghalaya claimed certain territories in these 12 locations. When we met in Shillong, we agreed that all disputes can’t be resolved in one go and we need to take them up in a step-by-step manner. Once the six disputes are resolved, we will move on to the others,” Sarma said.

Himanta Biswa Sarma and Conrad Sangma