Assam, Arunachal CMs sign pact to resolve the border dispute
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Arunachal Pradesh counterpart Pema Khandu on Friday signed an agreement to end border issues between the two states and decided to “restrict” the number of disputed villages to 86 instead of 123.
The chief ministers of the two northeast neighbours met and signed the agreement at Namsai in Arunachal Pradesh.
Sarma tweeted, “We have decided to limit the ‘disputed villages’ to 86 instead of 123. Based on our current limit, we will try to resolve the rest by September 15, 2022.”
He said that he is extremely happy to announce the signing of the Namsai Declaration at the Chief Minister level meeting between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.
“Inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and guided by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, we can achieve this milestone in resolving our long pending border disputes. This is a milestone in the history of our friendship and brotherhood,” Sarma said.
The declaration was signed by the two CMs in the presence of several cabinet ministers of both states.
Both the states share an 804.1 km long border. The complaint of Arunachal Pradesh, which was made a union territory in 1972, is that many forest areas in the plains that traditionally belonged to hill tribal chiefs and communities were unilaterally transferred to Assam.
After Arunachal Pradesh got statehood in 1987, a tripartite committee was appointed which recommended that some areas be transferred from Assam to Arunachal. Assam opposed it and the matter is in the Supreme Court.
