Staff Reporter
Guwahati: Following ministerial-level border talks between Assam and Mizoram in Aizawl today, both states agreed to continue to promote and maintain peace and harmony and prevent any untoward incidents along the inter-state border. Both states also agreed to continue a sustained zero tolerance policy against the transportation of smuggled arecanuts.
A delegation from Assam, led by Minister of Border Protection & Development Department Atul Bora, was in Aizawl on Friday to participate in a goodwill mission.
Minister Atul Bora met with Mizoram’s Home Minister K Sapdanga and Minister of Land, Revenue, and Settlement B Lalchhanzova in Aizawl. The meeting at State Guest House, Aizawl, aimed to resolve the longstanding Assam-Mizoram inter-state border issues amicably.
The Assam delegation included the Principal Secretary, Border Protection & Development Department, GD Tripathi, and senior officials of the department.
The Mizoram’s delegation comprised Home Department Secretary Vanlalmawia, Additional Secretary Joseph H. Lalramsanga, and other officials from different departments of the Mizoram government.
The meeting was said to be “a significant step towards finding mutually acceptable solutions to the border disputes between the two states.”
After the meeting, a joint statement signed by Assam Minister Atul Bora and K. Sapdanga, Home Minister, Mizoram, was issued.
The joint statement reaffirmed that the ‘Goodwill Mission’ between the Government of Mizoram and the Government of Assam held on Friday at Aizawl, Mizoram, is to take forward the firm commitment and initiative made in the meeting on February 9, 2024, between the Chief Minister of Assam and the Chief Minister of Mizoram for resolution of the inter-state boundary dispute in an atmosphere of understanding and goodwill between the two States. Both states agreed to continue to promote and maintain peace and harmony and prevent any untoward incidents along the interstate border. Both states reaffirmed the decisions of the joint statements of all the previous meetings to arrive at an amicable resolution on the vexed border issues. It has been decided that all pending discussions and decisions to be made on the issue and other connected matters shall be taken up by officials of both state governments. This will be followed by a series of meetings to be held at venues decided by both officials. It was further decided that the next ministerial-level meeting will take place in Guwahati, Assam, before March 31, 2025.
Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to continue a sustained zero-tolerance policy against the transportation of smuggled areca nuts from other countries.
Moreover, the Deputy Commissioners and Superintendents of Police of both states shall continue to have regular meetings to promote peace and harmony along the interstate border virtually each month and in person every six months, the statement said.
The delegations from both states jointly agreed that the cooperation of the people living on both sides of the states is extremely crucial for a peaceful solution to border disputes. It was also agreed that the general public and all stakeholders are expected to bring any differences on border issues to the appropriate authorities without taking the law into their own hands.
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