SHILLONG: The dicey law and order situation in the State has delayed the Chief Secretary-level meeting between Meghalaya and Assam that is aimed at finding a solution to the lingering inter-state border dispute.
The last scheduled chief secretary-level meeting to discuss the issue was on September 20. However, it was postponed.
An official said that after the postponement of the meeting, no new date has been fixed as yet.
Chief Secretary WMS Pariat had told newspersons in September that the proposed meeting had to be postponed due to a bandh called on September 20 by the pro-ILP groups.
A delegation led by Assam Chief Secretary was scheduled to hold a meeting in Shillong but the Government was of the opinion that providing security to the delegation during the bandh would be difficult, following which the meeting was called off.
It was on August 9, 2011 during the chief secretary-level meeting that Meghalaya had submitted the list of 12 sectors (areas of differences) consisting of 2,700 square kilometres as areas belonging to Meghalaya along with maps and documents to substantiate its claim.
However, during the last chief secretary-level meeting held on May 24, 2012, Assam had sought more time to study the documents submitted by Meghalaya and to assess the ground reality.
The border dispute had figured in the October session of the Meghalaya Assembly with Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma stating on the floor of the House that Meghalaya was awaiting a response from Assam on the documents submitted by the State.
Dr Sangma had also reiterated in the Assembly the need to appraise the Centre for setting up of a boundary commission to settle the issue.
It was on March 16, 2011 that the Meghalaya Assembly had passed a resolution urging the Centre to institute a boundary commission to re-demarcate the inter-state boundary.
The resolution, however, faced an obstacle in December 2011 when Assam Assembly passed a resolution against constitution of an inter-state boundary commission to solve the border dispute.
