Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Wednesday said that the state has agreed to resolve its border disputes with Assam at six locations and that they will work towards finding solutions to six other contested areas as well, PTI reported.
Sangma said both states held discussions pertaining to the disputes at six locations and “came to an understanding”. He said both sides had hoped to reach a final understanding before their next joint meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
In November, Meghalaya and Assam had said that they will form three committees each to settle the disputes. They had resolved to settle six of the 12 disputed areas by end of the year.
On January 27, Sangma had said that Meghalaya officials held a meeting held with their Assam counterparts to “iron out issues” in their border talks. “We have come to 98% agreement on the six areas of differences,” he wrote on Twitter.
Before that, on January 20, Sangma and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had met Shah to submit the recommendations of the committees set up to settle border disputes between the two states.
The committees, in their joint final recommendations, had worked on 36.79 square kilometres of contested territory in the first phase. Assam will be given control of 18.51 square kilometres while Meghalaya will get 18.28 square kilometres, according to PTI.
Sangma on Tuesday said he hoped the Centre would invite both the states soon.
“Our effort is that we will resolve the differences on the remaining six locations before the 75th anniversary of India’s independence,” he said.
Meghalaya was carved out of Assam on January 21, 1972. Disputes arose at 12 locations after Meghalaya had challenged the Assam Reorganisation Act, 1971. Assam is the only state with which Meghalaya shares an internal border.
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