SHILLONG: After the inter-State boundary disputes between Assam, Mizoram and Tripura, various political parties in Meghalaya have urged the Centre to resolve its border issues with Assam. Assam-Meghalaya shares 885 km inter-State border. Assam shares 2,616 km inter-State boundaries with six north-eastern States (excluding Sikkim); and with every State there are boundary disputes.
There are at least 12 disputed patches along the Assam and Meghalaya boundaries and both the States had earlier informally decided that one State cannot carry out developmental activities in these areas without informing the other.
Chief Ministers and Chief Secretaries of Assam and Meghalaya have held a series of meetings; but the issues remained unresolved.
The Regional Democratic Alliance (RDA) and Hill State People's Democratic Party (HSPDP) have also meet Sangma and suggested the urgent need for Meghalaya and Assam to resolve the boundary issues between the two States, which has been a major bone of contention among the two north-eastern States. The RDA and HSPDP leaders told the media in Shillong separately that the Centre should not remain silent on the vital issue.
With two legislators, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — an ally of the Meghalaya's National People's Party (NPP)-led coalition government — has also urged the Central government to resolve the long pending inter-state border disputes with Assam.
BJP MLA Sanbor Shullai in a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah demanded Central government's intervention in resolving the long-pending boundary disputes with Assam. Shullai in his letter said that the Centre's earlier decision to resolve boundary disputes among the north-eastern States by 2021 is a perfect step but Assam-Meghalaya boundary disputes must be solved at the earliest.
"There are many patches between Assam and Meghalaya where boundary disputes are very often causing clashes, tension and hostility among the people living in both sides of the boundary," said the BJP MLA, adding that people in the "disputed areas" are facing hardships.
"In some occasions, the Assam-Meghalaya boundary disputes spills over into the other parts of the State affecting lives of other people and disrupt the ethnic harmony," the BJP lawmaker said.
Besides Shullai, the other BJP MLA is Alexander Laloo Hek, who is Health Minister of Meghalaya, where the saffron party is supporting the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government led by Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, who is also the president of NPP. (IANS)
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