Assam & Meghalaya CMs sign MoU at MHA in Delhi ending 50-year long border disputes

In a significant development, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma and Meghalaya CM Conrad Sangma signed an agreement to resolve their 50-year-old boundary dispute between their states. Brokered by Home Minister Amit Shah, the two Chief Ministers on Tuesday signed the historic MoU at the office of the Ministry of Home Affairs. 

Speaking to the media, CM Conrad Sangma stated that the resolution of the dispute, which had lasted over 5 decades, had been reached through the joint efforts of the officers and the political leadership.

"We're celebrating the Golden Jubilee of our state this year and even after 50 years, this issue remained. So, there's a large section of society that wants a resolution to this, including the leadership. I want to thank all our committee members and the officers of the Assam and Meghalaya governments. This has been successful because of the hard work of not only the officers but the political leaders who have been chairman of the committee," said Sangma.

CM Himanta Biswa Sarma also thanked the leadership and hoped that the resolution on the remaining 6 locations could arrive in the next 7 months. "Our Home Minister also wants the dispute between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh to be solved. We have met and 122 disputed regions are being discussed and the roadmap is being made. Our PM's dream for a northeast will be fulfilled and we will contribute to the productivity of the nation in every way," said Sarma.

"The Home Minister's directions in this are very important. He has been in constant contact with us be it on law and order or development. We have also started talks with the Mizoram government. We want a positive and united northeast," he added.

More about the historic resolution

The MoU was signed between the states two months after a draft resolution was submitted by the Chief Ministers to HM Shah on January 31 for examination and consideration. The governments had come up with a draft resolution to resolve disputes in six of the 12 "areas of difference" along the 884-km boundary. As per the proposed recommendations for the 36.79 square km of land, Assam will keep 18.51 square km and give the remaining 18.28 square km to Meghalaya.

The dispute was sparked in 1972 when Meghalaya was carved out of Assam which resulted in different readings of the demarcation of boundaries in the initial agreement for the new state's creation.