Assam & Meghalaya CM sign 'historic' pact to end 50-year-old border dispute in 6 locations

The home minister said with the signing of the agreement, 70% of the border dispute between the two states has been resolved

Assam and Meghalaya government on Tuesday signed an agreement to end the 50-year-old dispute in six out of 12 sites of contention in the inter-state borders.

The agreement was signed in New Delhi between Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Meghalaya counterpart Conrad K Sangma in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

“It is a historic day for people of Meghalaya and Assam and also for the North East region as a whole as we have taken a major step towards solving the problem which continued for 50 years. We have signed the agreement to solve the disputes in six out of 12 locations based on the MoU signed on January 29. We will continue to work to finding solution in other six locations where differences are there,” Sangma said in a video message after the agreement was signed.

The disputes on the 884-km-long inter-state borders between the two states started in 1972 when Meghalaya was carved out of Assam as a separate state. The areas have witnessed tension several times since then.

The process to end the conflict gained momentum after six Assam policemen were gunned down by their Mizoram counterparts in July last year on the inter-state border with Mizoram. Assam has border disputes with Mizoram, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya.

Assam and Meghalaya CMs have held meetings several times while regional committees set up by the two states visited the “disputes sites” and held discussions with local residents, organisations and other stakeholders before submitting their report for finding a solution to the long disputes.

“Today is a historic day in our efforts since 2014 for making the North East a dispute-free region. In a meeting with CMs of all North Eastern states on July 24, 2021 in Shillong, I appealed to Assam government to take a lead in resolving the disputes. And today the two states have signed the agreement to solve disputes in six out of 12 sites. If we take the length of the border into account, this agreement will solve nearly 70% of the disputes. We must end the disputes first as development is not possible without solving the disputes,” Shah told reporters after the agreement was signed between the two states.

Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma said the agreement became possible due to constant support by the Centre and Shah.

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