SHILLONG, Jan 29: The ‘illegal’ construction of a transit camp by the Assam State Transport Corporation in Khanapara (Ri Bhoi) has yet again raised the need for the chief ministers of Meghalaya and Assam to deliberate and sort out the long-pending inter-state boundary dispute.
It may be mentioned that the chief ministers of the two states have not met since the past three years for talks even as skirmishes along the inter-state border keep recurring from time to time.
Taking note of the frequent skirmishes, civil societies and political parties have time and again asked the state government to strengthen the presence of police along the inter-state boundary.
An official of the Meghalaya Police, on condition of anonymity, while talking about the boundary dispute, said deputy commissioners and superintendents of police of the neighbouring districts meet frequently to sort out issues, as and when they come up.
“We also have inter-district deployment (of police personnel) for ages along the inter-state border. Police stations and outposts are also there,” the official said.
The official said that most of the time, smaller issues crop up along the border and the district magistrates and superintendents of police resolve them among themselves.
In many cases, police forces of the two states even work jointly to resolve border problems.
Now, with the Assembly elections in Assam just about a couple of months away, the Meghalaya government is optimistic that the chief ministerial-level talks would take place once the newly-elected government assumes office in the neighbouring state.
There are 12 areas of difference along the borders of the two states and the Meghalaya government had, years back, even submitted its claims with necessary documents to the Assam government.
However, there has been no word from Assam as yet on the documents submitted by Meghalaya.
Moreover, the intervention of the Centre is felt wanting even as many regional parties of the state opine that until and unless the central government intervenes, a solution to the vexed problem would remain out of sight.
Union home minister Amit Shah had, during his recent visit to Meghalaya, asked all the Northeastern states to resolve their boundary disputes bilaterally by August 2022.