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By India Today News Desk: Assam and Arunachal Pradesh on Thursday signed an agreement to bring an end to the border dispute between the two states which has been going on for 51 years. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Arunachal Pradesh counterpart Pema Khandu signed the agreement in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Assam and Arunachal Pradesh share an 804.1-km-long border which has been in dispute since the latter was made a union territory in 1972. It gained statehood in 1987. The pact will bring settlement to 123 villages located along areas that the two states share.
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Arunachal Pradesh 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.
Home Minister Amit Shah called the signing of the agreement a historic event for both Assam and Arunachal Pradesh and said the resolution to the dispute over 123 villages came at a time when the country is celebrating its 75th year of Independence.
“It is a big moment for the entire northeastern region which has been witnessing all round development ever since the Narendra Modi government came to power in 2014,” he was quoted as saying by PTI news agency.
He said that the report of the Local Commission on the border dispute kept circling around for decades, which has now been accepted by both the states.
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Assam CM Himanta Bisaw said the agreement with Arunachal is in line with similar efforts with Meghalaya in the last two years. “This will boost the spirit of bonhomie in the Northeast and strengthen our federal structure as it brings a new paradigm to resolve differences between states,” he added.
Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Khandu called the settlement of the boundary dispute a “momentous and historic” and said he is confident that it would bring about a sea change in the peace and development of both the states.
DETAILS OF AGREEMENT
Out of the 123 villages claimed by Arunachal Pradesh before the Local Commission in 2007, 71 have been resolved. This includes 27 villages resolved through the Namsai Declaration on July 15, 2022 and 34 villages through this MoU.
From these 71 villages, one will be included in Assam from Arunachal Pradesh, 10 villages will continue in Assam and 60 villages will be included in Arunachal Pradesh from Assam.
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Of the remaining 52 villages, the village boundary of 49 villages is to be finalised by the regional committees in the next six months, while three villages situated inside the IAF bombing range will require rehabilitation.
Both the state governments agreed that the pact will be final with regards to these 123 disputed villages and neither of the states will make any new claim related to any area or village in future. A detailed survey will be carried out by the Survey of India later in the presence of representatives of both the state governments to determine the boundaries of both the states.
As a gesture of goodwill, the Arunachal Pradesh government will hand over a large tract of land under its possession in Assam’s Jorhat to the Assam government, said Sarma.
(With PTI input)
Published On:
Apr 21, 2023
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