Assam proposed on Thursday that the regional committees formed by Assam and Arunachal Pradesh governments to resolve differences along the interstate boundary complete their joint inspection of the disputed areas by the end of August.
Following that, the committees will submit reports to their respective governments by September 15, the Assam regional committee decided at a meeting here. Ashok Singhal, an Assam cabinet minister present at the meeting, stated that the decisions will be communicated to the Arunachal panel concerned.
“We want to complete the joint inspections by the end of this month and then submit our findings to the respective governments by 15 September. We will discuss this further with our counterparts of the neighbouring state and finalise the schedule,” he said.
The committees were formed as a result of a meeting on 15 July between Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Arunachal counterpart Pema Khandu, which resulted in the signing of the ‘Namsai Declaration.’ The two Northeastern neighbours have also agreed to limit the number of ‘disputed villages’ to 86 rather than the previous 123, and to try to resolve the remaining issues by September 15.
Minister Atul Bora of Assam’s Border Protection and Development Department presided over the regional committee meeting on Thursday. Several other ministers and top officials were also in attendance.
The two states share an 804.1-kilometer border. Arunachal, which became a union territory in 1972, is upset because several forested tracts in the plains that had traditionally belonged to hill tribal chiefs and communities were unilaterally transferred to Assam.
Following Arunachal’s statehood in 1987, a three-member committee was formed to recommend that certain territories be transferred from Assam to Arunachal. Assam challenged this, and the case is now before the Supreme Court.