Assam, Meghalaya sign agreement to end 50-year border dispute

Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Meghalaya counterpart Conrad Sangma signed an agreement in the presence of Union home minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on Tuesday to end the 50-year-old border dispute between the two northeastern states.  Chief secretaries of both states as well as other officials of Ministry of Home Affairs were also present. The long-standing land dispute was sparked in 1972 when Meghalaya was carved out of Assam. The border issues came about as a result of different readings of the demarcation of boundaries in the initial agreement for the new state's creation. A draft resolution was submitted by the CMs of Assam and Meghalaya to Shah on January 31 for examination and consideration by the MHA. The governments of Assam and Meghalaya had come up with a draft resolution to resolve their border disputes in six of the 12 "areas of difference" along the 884-km boundary.

The agreement aims to resolve differences in six "areas of differences", that comprise nearly 70 per cent of the total boundary. The Assam-Meghalaya border dispute are the areas of Upper Tarabari, Gazang reserve forest, Hahim, Langpih, Borduar, Boklapara, Nongwah, Matamur, Khanapara-Pilangkata, Deshdemoreah Block I and Block II, Khanduli and Retacherra. Amit Shah said the signing of the agreement to end the decades-long dispute is a historic day for the North-East. A total of 11 representatives of the Meghalaya government and nine of Assam were present in the meeting at the MHA office.