NEW DELHI: Assam and Meghalaya governments on Tuesday signed an agreement in the national capital in a bid to resolve their 50-year-old border dispute.
The agreement was signed by Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Meghalaya counterpart Conrad Sangma in the presence of Union home minister Amit Shah.
Calling it a “historic day” for the northeast, Shah said that disputes in nearly 70% of the areas will be resolved with the signing of the border pact.
Historic day for the North-East. The signing of the interstate boundary settlement between the states of Assam and Meghalaya. Watch live! https://t.co/hvHL4lipun
— Amit Shah (@AmitShah) March 29, 2022
“Disputes in six remaining areas of Assam-Meghalaya border will also be resolved soon,” he said.
Chief secretaries of both the states as well as other officials of these states and officials of the home ministry were also present.
The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between Assam and Meghalaya two months after a draft resolution was submitted by both the chief ministers on January 31 for examination and consideration by the MHA.
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According to the proposed recommendations for the 36.79 square km and give the remaining 18.28 square km to Meghalaya.
The long-standing land dispute was sparked in 1972 when Meghalaya was carved out of Assam. The border issues came as a result of different readings of the demarcation of boundaries in the initial agreement for the new state’s creation.
The two states had agreed that the disputes will be limited to only 12 areas based on the claims made by Meghalaya till 2011 and that Meghalaya cannot make any further claims.
