Over border dispute CMs of Assam, Meghalaya meets in Guwahati

Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday met Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma, and held talks to resolve disputes between the two northeastern neighbors over the remaining six areas along the border.

Addressing a press conference after the meeting, Sarma announced that he and Sangma will visit the disputed areas of Karbi Anglong in Assam and West Jaintia Hills in Meghalaya next month, where the issue is “a bit complicated”.
“We will jointly visit Karbi Anglong and West Jaintia Hills districts at the end of June as there is some unrest there. This will be a confidence-building measure to assure people on both sides that we are resolving the differences,” Sarma said.

“I am confident that through dialogue, mutual trust and confidence we will be able to resolve the other six areas of conflict much sooner than expected,” he said.
Sangma said that while the differences in these six areas are “complicated”, they too can be resolved in a spirit of trust and friendship.

He said that things are complicated but we understand that when there is a will, there is a way.

Sangma said survey and other related works in six sectors for which an agreement was signed between the two states in the first phase last year.
He said that we have asked various departments and the Survey of India to continue work in the first six sectors.

When asked if any deadline has been fixed for finding solutions for the remaining six sectors, Sarma said, “These six sectors are a bit complicated, it is not a good idea to put a time frame but we are progressing the work. will meet in July to review “.
Meghalaya was carved out of Assam as a separate state in 1972, and challenged the Assam Reorganization Act of 1971, leading to disputes in 12 regions along the 884.9 km long border.

Sarma, upon taking over as chief minister in May 2021, had announced that his priority would be to resolve long-standing border disputes with neighboring states.

Three regional committees were then set up to resolve the issues in a phased manner.
The regional committees submitted their recommendations, which were handed over to Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi, following which a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on 29 March 2022 to resolve disputes in six of the 12 regions. ) was signed.

According to the agreement, 36.79 sq km of disputed territory was taken up for settlement in the first phase, with Assam having full control over 18.51 sq km and Meghalaya 18.28 sq km of land.