Assam and Meghalaya regional committees met here on Saturday to examine three contested areas along the interstate border, according to the two state ministers in charge of the panels.
The ministers also said that they would meet at the same location the following month and go on a combined field trip to a troubled region.
“Today, we spoke about three contentious industries. We listened to what the government of Meghalaya had to say. Minister of Assam Border Protection and Development Atul Bora claimed that ministers, MLAs, and senior officials from both sides were present.
According to him, the district commissioners in particular have been instructed to confirm the actual situation on the ground and provide their updated findings at the next meeting, which has been scheduled for August 25.
“On August 26, the committees will visit West Dimoria (in Assam’s Kamrup Metropolitan district) for a joint inspection,” Bora said.
After the joint inspection, other sectors would be tackled gradually for resolution, according to Prestone Tynsong, deputy chief minister of Meghalaya.
Since Meghalaya was separated from Assam in 1972 and contested the Assam Reorganisation Act, 1971, the two neighboring states have been embroiled in border disputes in 12 locations along their 884.9 km long boundary.
Himanta Biswa Sarma, the Chief Minister of Assam, said that his first priority upon taking office in May 2021 would be to settle long-standing border issues with neighboring states.
Regional committees were then formed to address the problems gradually, beginning with six areas of disagreement.
Following the submission of the regional committees’ recommendations, which were sent to Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to settle conflicts in six of the twelve districts was signed on March 29, 2022.
The agreement states that 36.79 sq km of the disputed territory was allocated for settlement in the first phase, with 18.51 sq km going entirely to Assam and 18.28 sq km to Meghalaya.
Now that the six remaining sectors have been brought up for discussion, Sarma and his colleague from Meghalaya, Conrad Sangma, met on May 24 to do so.