new Delhi: The Assam and Meghalaya governments are set to sign an agreement in the national capital on Tuesday evening to resolve their 50-year-old border gap.
Home Ministry officials said the agreement will be signed by the Chief Ministers of Assam and Meghalaya in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah at around 3.30 pm at the Home Ministry’s office.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Meghalaya counterpart Meghalaya Conrad K Sangma will sign the agreement in the presence of Chief Secretaries of both the states as well as other officials of these states and officials of MHA.
There are indications of a final round of discussions with the Home Ministry before the actual Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is signed between Assam and Meghalaya.
A draft proposal was submitted by the Chief Ministers of Assam and Meghalaya to Union Home Minister Amit Shah on January 31 for examination and consideration by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The governments of Assam and Meghalaya came out with a draft proposal to resolve their border disputes in six of the 12 “zones of difference” along a border of 884 km.
As per the proposed recommendations for 36.79 sq km of land, Assam will give 18.51 sq km and the remaining 18.28 sq km to Meghalaya. The final settlement between Assam and Meghalaya is significant as the border dispute between the two states has been pending for a very long time.
The long-standing land dispute began in 1972 when Meghalaya was carved out of Assam. The boundary issues arose as a result of various readings of the demarcation of borders in the initial agreement for the creation of the new state.