Pillar marks 1st demarcation of Assam-Meghalaya border
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Guwahati: A border pillar installed in the Hahim area in Kamrup district bordering Meghalaya on Friday marked the first physical demarcation of the inter-state boundary and the beginning of the end to a violence-laced dispute between the two states that lingered for over half a century.
The installation of the pillar is a result of an agreement reached between the two states in 2022, in presence of home minister Amit Shah, turning years of negotiation and paperwork into a tangible on-ground reality in six of 12 disputed areas, covering over 2,700 sq km along the 884-km inter-state border. Efforts are currently on to resolve the differences in the remaining six areas.
The agreement paved the way for Survey of India to redraw the inter-state boundary between the two states at these six points.
The pact was signed by Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Meghalaya counterpart Conrad Sangma in New Delhi.
"First boundary pillar erected along Assam-Meghalaya border, on-ground execution of 2022 agreement" Sarma announced on 'X', describing the concrete pillars as "Pillars of Clarity and Peace".
"In 1972, when Meghalaya State was carved out, a significant portion of its boundary with Assam was left ambiguous often leading to chaos and tension between our states.
50 years later, in 2022 under the leadership of Adarniya @narendramodi Ji and in the presence of Adarniya @AmitShah Ji our two states signed a historic MoU to begin defining our boundaries. 6/12 disputed areas have been resolved and earmarked for boundary works and fruits of that agreement are now flowing in as the first pillars get erected," Sarma wrote.
"So how do these pillars improve harmony between us sister states?—people and administration on both sides now have exact clarity on jurisdiction," and "Governance can finally shine in these 'once grey areas," he added.
The Assam-Meghalaya border dispute is one of the northeast's most persistent inter-state conflicts, rooted in historical, ethnic, and administrative complexities since Meghalaya was carved out of Assam in 1972.
The border dispute, with both sides claiming overlapping areas due to historical and administrative ambiguities, stems from the Meghalaya govt's refusal to accept the Assam Reorganization (Meghalaya) Act of 1969, under which Meghalaya's boundaries were demarcated, when it was first made an autonomous state and later a full-fledged state on Jan 21, 1972.
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