In a significant move, 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.
"I want to thank Amit Shah for giving us the direction to resolve the border disputes. Today, the first phase of the resolution has been done. It could only be possible because of Himanta Biswa Sarma," Sangma said soon after signing the agreement.
Earlier he had said there had been "a lot of push" from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah to resolve the differences between the two states.
{{/usCountry}}Earlier he had said there had been "a lot of push" from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah to resolve the differences between the two states.
{{/usCountry}}“If India and Bangladesh can resolve the border issues then why can't the two states -- the is the stand the Centre has taken," he said.
Taking to Twitter, Shah called the signing of the interstate boundary settlement a "historic day" for the northeast.
“Today, a 50-year-old pending boundary dispute between Assam and Meghalaya has been resolved. 6 out of 12 points of the dispute has been resolved, which comprises nearly 70% of the boundary. The remaining 6 points will be resolved at the earliest”, Shah was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
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.
Ahead of the agreement signing, the two CMs reportedly had a final round of discussion with the MHA.
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.