ITANAGAR, Oct 8: Arunachal Pradesh’s Land Management Minister Balo Raja on Tuesday called for collaborative efforts to solve the decades-old boundary dispute with neighbouring Assam.
Chairing a meeting of the regional border committee of Papum Pare district, convened to examine the present status of the boundary dispute, the minister said a concrete roadmap should be prepared to settle the issue with the neighbouring districts of Assam.
“We all as stakeholders have to share information and intelligence,” he said, urging all stakeholders to share their understanding of the circumstances with one another.
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Discussing the importance of maintaining cordial ties with neighbours, the minister said the positive role of the local MLAs, the deputy commissioner, forums, and unions is important for an early solution.
He asked them to complete the tasks assigned within this month and submit a report so that the problems could be discussed with the regional committees of neighbouring districts of Assam by January next year.
Participating in the discussion, Doimukh MLA Nabam Vivek emphasised teamwork to deal with boundary issues.
“The district administration and the administrative officers of the border areas need to conduct field survey and ground survey exercises in consultation with the Border People’s Forum. They should also hold meetings with locals since people are the main stakeholders,” he said.
Maintaining that the Doimukh constituency shares the longest boundary with Assam, he said he has already started meeting the MLAs of Assam whose constituencies share a border with his.
“I am looking forward to meeting the regional committees of Lakhimpur and Biswanath districts by the end of November so that the boundary problem with Assam can be settled immediately,” he said.
Papum Pare’s Deputy Commissioner Jiken Bomjen stressed the need to maintain the status quo at the border and follow the MoU signed during the Namsai Declaration.
He advocated for a strict vigil in the border areas till an agreement is reached between the two states.
The CMs of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam signed the Namsai Declaration on July 15, 2022, to end the decades-old border issue, and decided to “restrict” the number of disputed villages to 86 instead of 123.
Deputy Director of Inter-State Border Affairs Rome Mele presented the position of the boundary villages of Papum Pare district and the demands of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.
He also highlighted the suggestions regarding the exchange of villages between the two states once the boundary issues are settled.
Assam and Arunachal Pradesh share an 804.1 km long border.
Arunachal Pradesh, which was made a union territory in 1972, had been claiming that several forested tracts in the plains traditionally belonging to the hill tribes were “unilaterally” transferred to Assam.
After Arunachal Pradesh achieved statehood in 1987, a tripartite committee was appointed and it recommended that certain territories be transferred from Assam to Arunachal Pradesh. Assam contested this, and the matter has been in the Supreme Court for long. (PTI)
