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By Saraswat Kashyap: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Tuesday informed that the government will very soon decide the dates for holding the second phase of border talks with Assam. The next round of border talks between Meghalaya and Assam will discuss the boundary disputes between the two states in six out of 12 areas of differences.
CM Sangma told reporters, “I had a couple of telephonic conversations with my counterpart from Assam. We are working out the dates and hopefully we should be able to initiate the first talk within the month of May itself.”
The Chief Minister further added, “It is a process and we cannot expect everything will happen in one day, but at least in the initial part we will try our best.”
Stating that both the chief ministers will soon finalise the date, Sangma said, “The good part is that, since we are on direct talking terms, we are talking to each other directly, so we will be able to finalise the dates very soon. We have given two-three options to each other. Once we fix the exact dates, I will definitely inform all of you.”
The Meghalaya government had on earlier occasions said that it will accord topmost priority to the local views while resolving the border disputes with Assam in the second phase of the talks.
On March 24, the state government reconstituted the three Regional Committees to examine the present status of the remaining six areas of differences and submit their reports within 45 days.
In the first phase of talks, six other disputed areas from a total of 12 were taken up for discussions following which a Memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the two states.
The six areas of difference include Langpih in West Khasi Hills District; Borduar, Nongwah-Mawtamur, Deshdoomreah, Block-II in Ri Bhoi District; Block- I, Psiar – Khanduli in West Jaintia Hills District.
Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma and his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma had in March last year signed an MoU for demarcating the border in at least six of the 12 contested locations that often raised tensions between the two states.
On March 29 last year, the agreement was signed in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah by the chief ministers of Assam and Meghalaya.
The pact sought to resolve the protracted dispute in six of the 12 places along the 884.9-km border between the two states.
The boundary dispute between Assam and Meghalaya has lingered for 50 years. However, efforts to resolve it have gained pace in recent times.
Meghalaya was carved out of Assam as a separate state in 1972, but the new state had challenged the Assam Reorganisation Act, 1971, leading to disputes regarding 12 border locations.
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