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'Inter-state disputes to be resolved with cooperation of states; Centre to act as ‘facilitator’, Lok Sabha told
"The approach of the Central Government has consistently been that inter-state disputes can be resolved only with the cooperation of the states," Nityanand Rai informed the Lok Sabha
Minister of state for home affairs Nityanand Rai informed the Lok Sabha on Tuesday that inter-state disputes have to be resolved only with the cooperation of the states concerned and the Union government can only act as a “facilitator for amicable settlement.”
"The approach of the Central Government has consistently been that inter-state disputes can be resolved only with the cooperation of the states. Governments concerned and that the Central Government acts only as a facilitator for amicable settlement of the dispute in the spirit of mutual understanding," Rai said in the Lower House.
Rai’s statement comes a day after violent clashes along the Assam-Mizoram border claimed six lives, including five police personnel, and left nearly 50 others injured. The two neighbouring states have been feuding for over five decades, ever since Mizoram was carved out of Assam, as a then Union territory in 1972.
The chief ministers of Assam and Mizoram, Himanta Biswa Sarma and Zormathanga, got embroiled in a verbal spar on Twitter until Union home minister Amit Shah intervened, following which the chief ministers spoke on the phone and agreed to maintain status quo and peace on their respective borders. Sarma belongs to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) while Zoramthanga’s Mizo National Front is a partner in the National Democratic Alliance government at the BJP-led Centre.
Rai, who was responding to a question submitted by Bahujan Samaj Party MP Haji Fazlur Rehman, said issues regarding demarcation of boundaries and claims and counter-claims over territories have also risen between Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka, Assam and Nagaland, Assam and Meghalaya and Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, all of which can only be resolved if the states cooperate with the Centre.
