Assam and Arunachal Pradesh have formed 12 regional committees to expedite the process of identification and early resolution of disputed areas along their 804.10 km boundary.
The two States had disputes in 123 villages along the border but the number was restricted to 86 in the Namsai Declaration, stated a document the Chief Ministers of the two States, Himanta Biswa Sarma and Pema Khandu, signed on July 15.
"At the Assam Regional Committee meeting held today (Thursday), we decided that the regional panels of both the States would jointly visit the disputed areas before submitting their reports to both the CMs by September 15," Atul Bora, Assam's Minister for Border Protection and Development Department said.
Assam has eight districts while Arunachal Pradesh has 12 along the interstate boundary.
The Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border dispute resolution formula is similar to the one Assam and Meghalaya applied for resolving the disputes along their 885-km boundary. Of the 12 disputed sectors on the Assam-Meghalaya border, a "fifty-fifty" settlement has been signed for six "less complicated" areas.
Next meeting in New Delhi
Mr. Bora said the Assam Chief Minister and his Mizoram counterpart Zoramthanga would hold their next meeting in New Delhi towards finding an amicable solution to the disputes along their 146.6 km border.
The boundary dispute between these two States has its roots in two colonial demarcations, one in 1875 and the other in 1933.
Mizoram recognises the demarcation under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation notified in 1875 that covers large swathes currently under Assam. Assam swears by a British notification of 1933 that allegedly made Mizoram lose an expansive stretch of forest along the border.
