MHA convenes meeting of Assam, Meghalaya CMs on border disputes

The Union Home Ministry has invited Assam and Meghalaya Chief Ministers to the national capital to hold a meeting on March 29 to discuss the inter-state border disputes in six of the 12 disputed areas of the two northeastern states, officials said on Friday.

The meeting was earlier scheduled to be held on March 27.

An official of Meghalaya Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said that Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma and his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma along with the senior officials of the two states would attend the meeting.

The two northeastern states signed an inter-state border agreement on January 29 to settle the boundary dispute in six of the 12 disputed locations. The Chief Ministers of both the states also then jointly held a meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

Meghalaya was carved out of Assam as a separate state in 1972 before the state had challenged the reorganisation act, 1971, leading to disputes in 12 bordering locations along the 884.9 km long inter-state border.

Due to the border disputes, several violent incidents happened in the past with the major such flare-up in 2010, four persons were killed in police firing at Langpih, one of the 12 disputed areas.

Assam has border disputes with Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Mizoram.

The worst-ever violence along the Assam-Mizoram border on July 26 last year left six Assam Police personnel dead and nearly 100 civilians and security personnel of the two neighbouring states injured.

--IANS

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