Resolution of border rows with Meghalaya, Arunachal expected this year — Assam CM

Duliajan (Assam), Jan. 4 (PTI): Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday said he is hopeful for “some resolution” of the longstanding border disputes with Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh this year.

However, it will take more time to settle the border row with Nagaland and Mizoram, he said while addressing a press conference here in Dibrugarh district at the end of a two-day conference of superintendents of police.

The disputes with Meghalaya are very small, except for in a couple of areas. The disputes are mostly on paper and there is no question of anyone influencing the border residents to choose sides without their own will, Sarma said.

He also dismissed allegations that miscreants from Meghalaya are trying to coerce the residents of Assam to opt for the neighbouring state.

Sarma said three ministers who were in charge of the regional committees formed to look into the six areas of disputes taken up for resolution in the first phase have assured him that the matter will be settled expeditiously.

Four rounds of chief ministerial-level talks between Sarma and his Meghalaya counterpart Conrad Sangma have taken place over the border issue since Sarma assumed office in May 2021. Three committees each were formed by the two state governments in August last year to resolve the vexed border disputes in a phased manner.

Out of a total 12 points of disputes between Assam and Meghalaya, six areas with relatively less critical differences have been taken up in the first phase.

Meghalaya was carved out of Assam as a separate state in 1972 and it had challenged the Assam Reorganisation Act, 1971, leading to the disputes. The two states share an 884.9 km long border.

Regarding the disputes with Arunachal Pradesh, Sarma said it will be pursued once the settlement with Meghalaya is done.

He said the disputes with Arunachal Pradesh were “almost resolved” in 1987, but some technical issues kept the final settlement pending.

We are hopeful of resolving the disputes with Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh by this year, he added.

Assam and Arunachal Pradesh share an 804.1-km border and there are 1,200 points of dispute.

Regarding the problems with Nagaland, the chief minister said the matter is pending before the Supreme Court, while in case of Mizoram, the process for settlement has just been initiated and it would take some time.

Assam Barak Valley districts of Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi share a 164.6 km long border with Mizoram’s three districts of Aizawl, Kolasib and Mamit and the long-standing dispute has its origin in a notification of 1875 that differentiated Lushai Hills from the plains of Cachar, and another of 1933 that demarcates a boundary between Lushai Hills and Manipur.

Mizoram insists the inter-state boundary should be demarcated on the basis of the 1875 notification, a corollary to the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR) Act, 1873. However, Assam wants enforcement of the 1933 notification.

Assam’s border dispute with Nagaland began since the creation of the state in 1963. The Nagaland State Act of 1962 had defined its borders according to the 1925 notification when Naga Hills and Tuensang Area were integrated into a new administrative unit and made an autonomous area.

Nagaland, however, did not accept the boundary delineation and demanded that the new state include Naga Hills and all Naga-majority areas in North Cachar and Nagaon districts, which were part of Naga territory, created by the British according to an 1866 notification.