Settling Discord : To Resolve Tricky Border Issue, Assam , Meghalaya Form Panels

Assam and Meghalaya have decided to set up two regional committees, each headed by a cabinet minister, to resolve the vexed border issue between the North-eastern neighbours, chief ministers of the two states said.

The five-member panels of the two states will initially aim at resolving the border disputes in a phased manner in six of the 12 disputed sides, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Meghalaya counterpart Conrad Sangma told a joint press conference held after both the governments held talks on the issue in Guwahati.

If there is a need to redraw the borders, though chances are slim, both the state governments would recommend it to the Centre, Sarma said.

The committees headed by a cabinet minister will have bureaucrats and maybe a local representative as members and they will visit the disputed sites, interact with the civil society members and complete the discussions within 30 days, Sarma said.

“From Assam side, there is no dispute regarding the sites but the Meghalaya government claims that certain territories in these 12 sites belong to them. The talks held by both the governments here today took certain decisions to facilitate further discussions to resolve the vexed problem,” Sarma said.

The Meghalaya Chief Minister pointed out that both the state governments were very clear that they want a solution to the problem as it has been long pending while the people in these areas have suffered a lot.

“There is a strong political will to resolve these areas of differences and both the governments have decided to do so by being respectful to each other,” Sangma said.

The strategy that both the governments decided was to deal with the areas of differences in a phased manner as “some areas are less complicated, some a little more and some very complicated”.

Five aspects to be considered while resolving the disputes are historical facts, ethnicity, administrative convenience, mood and sentiments of the people concerned and the contiguity of the land, he said.

The six sites taken up in the first phase are Tarabari, Gijang, Hahim, Baklapara, Khanapara-Pilingkata and Ratacherra as the disputes there are not complicated and the committees will hold deliberations to narrow down the differences, Sarma said.

The areas fall in Cachar, Kamrup Metro and Kamrup Rural in the Assam side and West Khasi Hills, Ri Bhoi district and East Jaintia Hills in Meghalaya.

“Our job at the chief ministers’ level will be to authenticate the resolutions or to step in if the differences still exist and we will move on to the remaining six areas of disputes”, the Assam Chief Minister said.