SHILLONG, June 30: Health Minister and senior BJP leader, AL Hek said Union Home Minister Amit Shah is likely to visit the state on July 17 but a meeting with the pressure groups to discuss the issue of Inner Line Permit (ILP) would depend on his itinerary.
“The Union Home Minister would have to first spare time to meet the pressure groups. It is only then that the discussion on the ILP issue can take place,” Hek said on Wednesday.
The BJP leader confirmed that Shah would be meeting Cabinet ministers and senior officials to review the government programmes and might discuss the interstate boundary dispute too.
“As the government, we are going to meet the Union Home Minister to discuss various issues concerning the state,” he said, adding he did not have details of his scheduled visit.
It is expected that Shah will meet the chief ministers of the Northeastern states to discuss all pending issues, including the vexed border problem and drug trafficking.
On the interstate boundary issue, Hek said that the BJP-led NDA government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has directed the Northeastern states to resolve the dispute before India’s 75th Independence Day celebration next year.
“The boundary talks with Assam are moving forward according to the directive of the Centre. An amicable settlement of the boundary dispute would be based on a give-and-take policy. This is the only way to resolve this long-pending issue,” Hek said.
He stated that the Centre is very keen to see the Northeastern states resolve their boundary disputes amicably.
Hek said Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma and his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma are very keen on resolving the boundary issue once and for all.
Earlier, UDP chief adviser Bindo Mathew Lanong had advised the state government to also engage with the Autonomous District Councils (ADCs), the Syiem and the Hima concerned to find an acceptable solution to the boundary dispute with Assam.
Referring to the Chandrachud Committee constituted in 1985 to find an amicable solution for demarcating the border between the two states, he reminded that the panel, in its report, did not make any recommendations on resolving the boundary dispute.
