Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Meghalaya counterpart Conrad Sangma are scheduled to hold talks on Saturday evening to discuss the resolution of border disputes between the two states in six remaining areas.
This will be the second round of talks between the two chief ministers on the border issue. In the first round of talks held in May this year, the two sides had agreed to resolve the border dispute in six areas through dialogue and consensus.
The border dispute between Assam and Meghalaya has been a long-standing issue, with both states claiming parts of the other’s territory. The dispute has led to violence and unrest in the border areas in the past.
The chief ministers are also likely to discuss the September 26 clash between residents of two bordering villages of Karbi Anglong and West Jaintia districts along the Assam-Meghalaya border, the official said.
Official level talks to resolve the issues in the remaining six disputed areas are being held at regular intervals between the two neighbouring states. Sarma and Sangma had last met on May 24 and had agreed to meet again to take forward the discussions to resolve the border issue as it was ”complicated”, he said.
The two chief ministers had then agreed to visit the disputed areas along the border of Karbi Anglong-West Jaintia Hills districts of both the states.
Meghalaya was carved out of Assam as a separate state in 1972. It had challenged the Assam Reorganisation Act, 1971, leading to disputes in 12 areas of the 884.9 km long border between the two states.
Sarma on assuming office in May, 2021 had announced that his priority was to resolve long-standing boundary disputes with the states neighbouring Assam. Subsequently, three regional committees were set up in August 2021 to resolve them in a phased manner.
The committees submitted their recommendations which were handed over to Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi by the two chief ministers, followed by the signing of a memorandum of understanding on March 29, 2022 to resolve disputes in six of the total 12 areas.
According to the agreement, 36.79 sq km of disputed area was taken up for settlement in the first phase with Assam getting full control of 18.51 sq km and Meghalaya over 18.28 sq km.