Assam, Meghalaya CMs meet Amit Shah to resolve decades-old border disputes

New Delhi: The two warring northeastern states Assam and Meghalaya have decided to resolve their longstanding inter-state dispute regarding their border.

As per reports, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Meghalaya counterpart Conrad Sangma on Thursday met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and apprised him about the outcome of their discussions and how to settle the issue amicably.

The two chief ministers on Wednesday had said that Assam and Meghalaya governments have drawn a road map to proceed with the division of their natural boundaries such as rivers and forests.

According to a senior MHA, both states have submitted a rough structure and MHA will take decisions now as per law. "It was a fifty-year-old dispute and after a lengthy exercise, some decisions have been more or less finalised by them," he explained, adding that boundary demarcation will be done after the due procedure in the Parliament.

Mr Sarma had on Wednesday said the two states would submit their recommendations to the Centre and urge it to take the matter forward.

"The Assam-Meghalaya border issue was discussed in the (state) cabinet. The regional committees of both the states have come to a consensus, and agreement has also been reached at the chief minister level," he had said.

"The Union Home Ministry is now expected to finalise a "conclusion" but more or less the structure has been reached after a long-drawn exercise between the two states," Mr Sangma had said.

Last year in August, three committees each were formed by the two states after two rounds of talks between Mr Sarma and Mr Sangma were held to resolve the vexed border dispute in a phased manner.

As per the joint final set of recommendations given by the committees, out of 36.79 square kilometers of the disputed area taken up for settlement in the first phase, Assam will get full control of 18.51 sq km and Meghalaya of 18.28 sq km.

Out of the 12 points of disputes between Assam and Meghalaya, six areas with relatively less critical differences were taken up in the first phase.

Meghalaya was carved out of Assam as a separate state in 1972 and it had challenged the Assam Reorganisation Act, 1971, leading to disputes in 12 areas along the 884.9-km-long border.