India News | Assam, Meghalaya Ministers Hold Talks on Border Dispute
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. Senior ministers of Assam and Meghalaya met on Saturday to discuss the border dispute between the two northeastern states, an official said.
Silchar, Jul 15 (PTI) Senior ministers of Assam and Meghalaya met on Saturday to discuss the border dispute between the two northeastern states, an official said.
Assam's Forest and Environment Chandra Mohan Patowary and Meghalaya's Deputy Chief Minister Sniawbhalang Dar held a detailed discussion on the border between Cachar and East Jaintia Hills districts, and directed the officials to prepare detailed reports on the problems in this area.
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The meeting was held at Umkiang in Meghalaya's East Jaintia Hills district.
Patowary later told reporters in Silchar that both the governments are keen to resolve the border disputes.
"The necessary steps will be taken after taking people's opinions and submission of the reports by the commissioners of the two districts," he said.
Cachar Deputy Commissioner Rohan Kumar Jha, East Jaintia Hills DC Abhilash Barnawal, police superintendents of the two districts and representatives of various organisations were present at the meeting.
Meghalaya was carved out of Assam as a separate state in 1972, and it challenged the Assam Reorganisation Act, 1971, leading to disputes in 12 areas along the 884.9-km-long border.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the two states in March last year to resolve the disputes in six of these 12 areas.
According to the agreement, 36.79 sq km of disputed area was taken up for settlement in the first phase with Assam getting control of 18.51 sq km and Meghalaya over 18.28 sq km of land.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Meghalaya counterpart Conrad K Sangma met on May 24 to discuss ways to resolve the issues in the remaining six areas.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)