Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Meghalaya counterpart Conrad Sangma held a Chief Ministers’ Level Meeting on Saturday to fast-track the border demarcation process and resolve the boundary disputes between the two northeastern states. After the meeting, Meghalaya CM Sangma said that both the state governments are committed to resolving the boundary issues with one accord and that demarcation of the first six areas will be completed by December 31.
During the meeting, the two CMs approved the boundary line for the Hahim Sector – one of the key areas where both states had differences over the boundary line. The demarcation and redrawing of the boundary lines will take place in a phased manner. Both states have decided to “soon finalize” the boundary lines of the differences in six areas in Phase 1 after a long drawn exercise.
“Both the Governments of Meghalaya and Assam continue with one accord to resolve our boundary issues. After a long drawn exercise, Meghalaya & Assam will soon finalize the boundary lines in the first six areas of the differences in Phase I. In the meeting today we have approved the boundary line for the Hahim sector. By 31st of December, finalization of the demarcation and boundary lines of the first six areas of the differences will be completed,” CM Sangma said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The interstate border dispute between Assam and Meghalaya dates back to 50 years. Last year, the chief ministers of respective states had signed an agreement in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in a bid to resolve their boundary disputes.
The home minister had said that the signing of the interstate boundary settlement between the states of Assam and Meghalaya will resolve the dispute in nearly 70 per cent of areas.
There is a total of 36 sq km area where both states have their differences. The area has been divided into 12 areas. The demarcation will take place in six of these 12 areas as per the 2022 interstate boundary settlement agreement.