Assam, Arunachal CM to form district-level committees to settle boundary issues

On Wednesday, Chief ministers Himanta Biswa Sarma and Pema Khandu announced that the two Northeastern states will form district-level committees to resolve the longstanding border disputes in a time-bound manner. Assam and Arunachal Pradesh have decided to constitute 12 district-level committees each in both the states, on the lines of the Assam-Meghalaya boundary dispute resolution mechanism.

The meeting was held at the Assam State Guest House in Koinadhara on Wednesday.

Sarma stated in a series of tweets that this was the second chief ministerial-level meeting between the two states over the boundary issue. 

“Took part in the 2nd CM-level meeting with my Arunachal Pradesh counterpart Hon’ble Shri Prema Khandu ji to resolve the boundary disputes between the  two states.

We decided to form district-level committees in both the states to resolve the issue in a time-bound manner, “ Sarma stated.

“The district committees will undertake joint surveys in the disputed areas to find tangible solutions to the long-pending issue based on historical perspective, ethnicity, contiguity, people’s will and administrative convenience of both the states”, he further added.

The committees' terms of reference were also approved at the conference, according to Sarma.

The meeting was attended by Assam's border region development minister, Atul Bora, as well as chief secretaries and senior officials from both states.

The inter-state boundary dispute between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh covers 123 villages covering an area of about 850 sq km.The Assam-Arunachal Pradesh inter-state boundary talks follows the recent signing of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) by the Assam and Meghalaya chief ministers in New Delhi to resolve disputes in six out of the 12 areas of differences.

Last year, Assam and Meghalaya formed three regional committees, where members undertook joint inspections and interacted with locals in border communities throughout the six states.