OUR CORRESPONDENT
Itanagar: Arunachal Pradesh Urban Affairs and Land Management Minister Balo Raja on Wednesday called for collaborative efforts from all the stakeholders in the state to solve the decades old boundary dispute with neighbouring Assam, amicably.
Chairing a meeting of the regional border committee of Papum Pare district, convened to examine the present status of boundary dispute with Assam, the minister called for fixing responsibilities and working in a team spirit to prepare a concrete road map for the settlement of boundary problems amicably with the neighbouring districts of Assam, officials informed here.
Emphasising on transparency and open communication, Raja said that any issue could be solved through clear and effective communication.
“We all as stakeholders have to share information and intelligence,” he said while urging all the stakeholders to share their understanding of the circumstances with one another.
Discussing the importance of maintaining cordial ties with the neighbours as well as the idea of negotiation, the minister said that the role of the local MLA, DC, forums and unions is inevitable for an early conclusion.
He requested them to complete the tasks assigned within this month and submit a report so that the problems could be discussed with the regional committees of counterpart districts of Assam by January next year.
Doimukh MLA Nabam Vivek while participating in the discussion emphasised on team work to deal with boundary issues.
Advocating for a ground-level recheck, he stressed on the importance of holding internal meetings in addition to those with the Assam counterpart.
“The district administration and the administrative officers of the border areas need to conduct field survey and ground survey exercise in consultation with Border People’s Forum and should hold meetings with local people of the area, since the people are the primary stakeholders,” he opined.
While informing that the Doimukh constituency shares the longest boundary with Assam, Vivek added that he has already started meeting the MLAs of Assam whose constituencies share boundaries with his.
“I am looking forward to meeting the regional committees of Lakhimpur and Biswanath district by the end of November, so that the boundary problem with Assam can be settled immediately in a team spirit,” the MLA added.
Papum Pare deputy commissioner Jiken Bomjen stressed on the need to maintain status-quo at the border areas and follow the MoU signed during the Namsai Declaration. He also advised to keep strict vigil in the border areas till an agreement is made between both the states.
On July 15, 2022, the chief ministers of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam signed the Namsai Declaration to end the decades-old border issue and decided to ‘restrict’ the number of disputed villages to 86 instead of 123.
Deputy Director of inter-state border affairs Rome Mele, presented the position of the boundary villages of Papum Pare district and the demands of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. He also highlighted the suggestions regarding the exchange of villages between both the states once the boundary issues are settled.
Assam and Arunachal Pradesh share an 804.1 km long border.
Arunachal Pradesh, which was made a union territory in 1972, has been maintaining that several forested tracts in the plains traditionally belonged to hill tribal chiefs and communities and these were ‘unilaterally’ transferred to Assam earlier.
After Arunachal Pradesh achieved statehood in 1987, a tripartite committee was appointed, which recommended that certain territories be transferred from Assam to Arunachal Pradesh.
Assam contested this and the matter was in the Supreme Court for a long time.
Also Read: Assam: Sample Survey Completed For Resolving Assam-Arunachal Border Issue (sentinelassam.com)
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