Assam Border Protection and Development Minister Atul Bora said on February 7 that the border disputes with the neighbouring States “will be resolved.” He also said a few decisions have already been made between the Governments of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya. “Further discussions are going on.”
“For the first time, under the leadership of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, the Assam Government has taken the initiative to resolve the long-pending border disputes between Assam and other neighbouring States,” Atul Bora said.
Holding the previous Congress regime responsible, the Minister added, “The Assam Chief Minister has taken the initiative. The problem is going to be resolved due to the political will of the Government.”
He further said, “We are working on a give-and-take policy with the Governments of Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya.”
Both State Governments, along with the Assam Government, also formed regional committees to resolve the border disputes, he said.
“We had jointly visited the bordering dispute areas and brought geographical contiguity, administrative convenience, and ethnicity under consideration and made some criteria,” he added.
“As of now, few decisions have been made with the Government of Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya. We hope that we will be able to resolve the border disputes with the neighbouring states,” Atul Bora said.
The new Mizoram Government is also keen to resolve the border dispute issue with Assam. Assam shares an 804-kilometer-long boundary with Arunachal Pradesh.
In March last year, CM Himanta Biswa Sarma and his counterpart CM Conrad Sangma signed a “historic” agreement for closure in six disputed sectors that were taken up for resolution in the first phase in the presence of Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi.
(with inputs from ANI)
