Guwahati hosts high-level meet to resolve Assam-Meghalaya border row

Guwahati (Assam) [India], July 22 (ANI): A high-level meeting between a sitting minister of Assam and his counterpart from neighbouring Meghayala was held on Saturday to discuss the border issue.
The meeting was convened in Assam capital, Guwahati.
The regional committee meeting, held at State Guest House, Koinadhora in Guwahati, featured Assam's Agriculture Minister Atul Bora and Meghalaya Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong.  
During the meeting, the two ministers agreed on joint visits by the regional committees of both states in the disputed areas to find out an amicable solution to the inter-state border dispute.
Significantly, Assam and Meghalaya had 12 areas of disputes with regard to their interstate boundaries. However, issues of contention in six areas have already been resolved.
On May 24, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Meghalaya counterpart Conrad Sangma held a high level meeting in Guwahati. In the meeting, the two leaders discussed the border issues in six areas threadbare.
Atul Bora, who is the chairman of the regional committee from Assam, told ANI that in May 24 meeting, the Assam CM and his Meghalaya counterpart decided that the regional committees will jointly visit the border area and study the ground reality, while suggesting measures to resolve all contentious issues.
"Accordingly, today, we discussed contentious issues in three areas. We had a good and constructing meeting today. We have decided to sit together on August 25 again. However, before that, the deputy commissioners of both states will visit the disputed areas. We will jointly visit the Dimoria site on August 26. Today, the deputy commissioners gave Powerpoint presentations. The chairman and members of the regional committees were present in the meeting," Bora said.
Meghalaya Deputy CM Tynsong, who is the chairman of the regional committee constituted by the Meghalaya government, told ANI that on August 26 morning, the regional committees of the two states will make a joint visits to disputed areas.
"At the meeting today, I represented the regional committee from Meghalaya who two panels from Assam were headed by ministers Atul Bora and Chandra Mohan Patowary. We have three contentious areas which figured in the discussions today. Both sides made their presentations and we held talks on all the grey areas. We instructed the deputy commissioners from Assam and Meghalaya to visit disputed areas and suggest solutions that are acceptable to both sides," Tynsong said.
"We have decided to meet again on August 25 in Guwahati. On August 26 morning, we will jointly go for a site inspection. Both the CMs met on May 24 and decided to take up six remaining areas of differences between both the states. Following up on the May 24 meeting, we held a meeting of the regional committees of the two states today," he added.
The two CMs on May 24 further decided to make the border talks productive and keep laying the groundwork for resolving the decade-old border issues.
The regional committees will also take different stakeholders into confidence in a bid to reach a mutually agreeable solution to border disputes. (ANI)