NEW DELHI: Home minister Amit Shah said on Tuesday the Assam-Meghalaya accord has ended the dispute in about 70% of the inter-state border areas and differences in the remaining six places will be resolved soon. “Today is a historic day for the conflict-less northeast India. Since 2014, PM Modi has wanted peace, development, prosperity and cultural protection and several initiatives have been taken in this regard,” he said.
“In July 24, 2021, I visited Meghalaya and said Assam must show large heartedness and resolve the border disputes with its neighbours. Assam and Meghalaya have resolved their border dispute in six places and with this, 70% of the dispute has been resolved,” he said.
The pact, which, as per the ministry of home affairs statement, exemplifies cooperative federalism and will provide a roadmap for resolution of other boundary disputes between states, now paves the way for Survey of India to redraw the inter-state boundary between the two states at these six points. The freshly demarcated border will have to be passed by Parliament by amending the North Eastern Region (Re-organisation) Act of 1971 which then will have to be ratified by the legislative assemblies of both states. The dispute has been there ever since Meghalaya was carved out of Assam in 1972. Assam also has border disputes with Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram.
Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “When Meghalaya was carved out of Assam, the Congress government kept the boundary in a vague way without properly demarcating it. And because of that the conflict between the two states is laced with violence.” He added that preliminary talks to resolve the border disputes with Assam’s other neighbours have also started.
Sangma said: “There has been a lot of push from the PM and the home minister that they would like to see these differences (Assam-Meghalaya border issue) are resolved because if India and Bangladesh can resolve the border issues, why can’t the states do it too”.
Shah said during the last three years, the government has signed several agreements to end extremism and bring lasting peace to the NE states.
