Home Minister Amit Shah is expected to seal the final agreement to end the dispute in six areas of the Assam-Meghalaya boundary ahead of Meghalaya’s 50th Statehood Day celebration on January 21.
There are 12 areas of differences along the inter-State border. But the two northeastern neighbours had agreed to resolve six “relatively less complicated” areas first.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Meghalaya counterpart Conrad K. Sangma had a crucial fourth round of talks in Guwahati on Wednesday and discussed the findings of the regional committees of the two States.
Assam and Meghalaya had formed three regional committees each to inspect the disputed areas and record the views of the local residents. Each committee corresponds to a district on either side of the boundary.
“We have more or less arrived at an agreement in these six areas inspected by the regional committees. Both the Chief Ministers have directed the respective governments to submit the detailed reports,” Prestone Tynsong, Meghalaya’s Deputy CM, who attended the meeting, said.
“Both the CMs will hold a final round of talks before meeting the Union Home Minister. Hopefully, the stakeholders of both the States will see a final agreement before January 21,” he added.
Mr. Sarma said the two States have almost resolved the boundary issue in the six areas. “We have scheduled a meeting with the leaders of the Opposition parties, student and social organisations on January 18 to incorporate their views. The border dispute should end soon if we come to a consensus,” he said.
