Guwahati: The interstate border dispute between Assam and Meghalaya will be settled in at least six areas by December 30, chief ministers of both states Tuesday said.
Addressing the press in Guwahati, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Meghalaya counterpart Conrad Sangma said that the special regional committees from both states would submit their reports on the six disputed sites by the end of the month.
As part of confidence building measure and to find lasting solution to the decade old inter-state border issue between Assam & Meghalaya, I & HCM Meghalaya Sri @SangmaConrad visited Lower Lumpi in Kamrup and attended a program there.@narendramodi @AmitShah @PMOIndia @HMOIndia pic.twitter.com/8lVstodsos
— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) November 16, 2021
The 884-km Assam-Meghalaya boundary witnesses flare-ups frequently. In all, there are 12 areas of dispute between the two states and in August, Sangma and Sarma announced that six had been selected for resolution in the first phase
“Both the committees have jointly visited these sites and are expected to submit their reports by November 30,” said Sarma. He said that they would regroup after that and see if there was a “meeting of minds”. “We will issue a final statement on these six disputes by December 30,” he said.
Even though Langpih does not fall under the six sites up for resolution in the first phase, the visit was aimed at “reassuring” the people that all disputed sites would be taken up.
Langpih (also spelt Lumpi) village, which is at the border of Kamrup district in Assam and West Khasi Hills district in Meghalaya, has been disputed for several decades. During the colonial times, the village was clubbed with Kamrup district in Assam by the British, but post-independence it was, according to claims, handed over to the United Khasi and Jaintia Hills district, part of Meghalaya. It was only in 1972 that Meghalaya was made a separate state, after it was carved out from Assam. Since the early 1970s, both states have made contesting claims on the actual demarcation of the village.
