GUWAHATI, March 30 (PTI): A day after he and his Meghalaya counterpart inked a pact to partially resolve inter-state border disputes, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday told the Assembly that the Parliament would be taking a final call on the matter.
The two states had on Tuesday signed an agreement to resolve their five-decade-old border dispute in six of the 12 locations, with Union Home minister Amit Shah calling it a ‘historic day’ for the Northeast.
Sarma, during his speech in the Assembly, said, “What we have done so far is executive action and now it will be sent to the legislative domain. What we signed is not final, Parliament will take a final decision after discussion,” he added.
The CM also pointed out that Parliament generally asked for opinion of state legislatures in cases pertaining to redrawing of boundaries, and when the agreement was moved before Assam Assembly, the House could either accept it or reject it.
“Discussion is needed in the House on the matter, but not today,” the chief minister added.
Of the 36.79 sq km area taken up for resolution in the first phase, Assam will get 18.46 sq km and Meghalaya 18.33 sq km as per the agreement between the two chief ministers, Sarma said.
Asserting that “resolution for the six points of dispute has sown a new seed of hope”, the CM said that he wished to take the same model forward for solving similar issues with Arunachal Pradesh.
Maintaining that “this is the best time to resolve” border disputes for the state, Sarma alleged that a section of people had always wanted to cause trouble.
“A section of intellectuals wants to create dispute in every sphere… the so-called Left anarchist ideologists,” he claimed.
Besides Meghalaya, Assam has boundary disputes with Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram.
