By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The Chief Secretary level talks to discuss the Assam-Meghalaya border dispute will be held within the next two weeks.
Chief Secretary WMS Pariat told reporters on Friday that the Government expects that the talks will resume within a fortnight.
He said after the documents including maps were submitted to Assam on 12 areas of differences in the Assam-Meghalaya border, the Assam Government had sought clarifications on the documents submitted.
“After we have clarified on their questions, we have not received any additional queries,” Pariat said.
According to the Chief Secretary, there is a major shift in the approach of the present Government to deal with the border problem as the Government had submitted relevant documents to Assam to substantiate its claim.
The necessity of solving the border issue between Assam and Meghalaya arose after the May 2010 firing incident at Langpih, a disputed area along the inter-state border in West Khasi Hills District.
Chief Secy expresses reservations against ILP
While appreciating the varied views on Inner Line Permit, Chief Secretary WMS Pariat on Friday said that ‘implementation of ILP can be horrible’.
Speaking to reporters, the Chief Secretary said several loopholes would surface once ILP is implemented.
“There are several economic and legal issues connected with the implementation of ILP,” Pariat said.
According to the Chief Secretary, as far as the legal issue is concerned, the Parliament has to pass an Act on ILP as the issue is beyond the purview of the State Government.
The Government has already called the NGOs for talks on August 29 and subsequently a meeting will be held on September 3 with all the political parties to discuss the issue.
The Chief Secretary said that the practical difficulties while implementing the ILP will be presented during the meeting with the NGOs, and added that stand of the Government can be made known only after the proposed meetings with NGOs and political parties.
To a question, Pariat asserted that the number of migrants is more in the neighbouring states which have implemented ILP as compared to Meghalaya.