By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, July 23: In a major breakthrough, Meghalaya and Assam governments have decided to travel beyond status quo and start resolving their boundary dispute at places less complex by following the policy of “give and take” or “redrawing the map” wherever required.
The decision was arrived at during the official-level talks between Chief Minister, Conrad K Sangma and his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma. There would be further deliberations on the vexed issue in the second round of talks to be held in Guwahati on August 6.
“We have come to a common understanding that we need to travel beyond status quo. Whenever we met in the past, a joint statement was issued that both states have agreed to maintain the status quo. This time however, we are going to say to the people of Meghalaya and Assam that we are committed to resolving the dispute,” the Assam CM told reporters.
Stating that backed by historical facts and other data, Meghalaya has identified 12 areas of differences and similarly, Assam justified its claims on the sites in question, Sarma said, “In view of the contradictory stand, it is important to resolve the issue in the spirit of give and take and considering the long-standing friendship between Assam and Meghalaya and also to keep the spirit of the Northeast alive”.
By raising claims and counter-claims, the dispute can never be resolved. What is imperative is a pragmatic approach, he said.
“We have decided that all 12 areas will be discussed, one by one. We will discuss the merits and demerits of claims and counter-claims. Wherever we will feel it is easy to resolve, we will start resolving it,” Sarma said, adding that it may not be possible to resolve the entire dispute in one go.
Asserting that both states favour an early solution to the problem, the Assam CM said, “The dispute cannot be resolved within a timeframe. In some areas, it is not very complex, so we will address those first.”
He said at some point of time, the Government of India will have to intervene as under the Constitution, it is only the Parliament that can redraw state boundaries.
“As we are discussing, we get an impression that some guiding force should be there. So, at an appropriate time, we will go to the Government of India,” Sarma said.
Assuring that the two states will keep making efforts to find a solution, he said he has invited Sangma to Guwahati on August 6 to hold the second round of official talks on the issue.
Sangma said people living on the border have suffered for too long as the dispute remained unresolved.
“We both have met on multiple occasions and today, we had our first official meeting with our officials and it was positive. We have decided that we will no longer look at status quo but try to find a solution,” he said.
Stating that finding a solution will not be easy, the Meghalaya CM said, “One should not expect us to resolve the problem in a matter of days. This will require consultancy and a lot of homework. We will also need to look at the current situation at the sites”.
He observed that depending totally on history and documentation of the past may not be the best approach. “We are going to look at factual data but we also need to look at what other ways we could move forward in order to find a solution that is amicable,” Sangma said.
“Our officials have already started the homework. They will be conducting a number of meetings before our second meeting in Guwahati,” the CM added.
No re-drawing of map, no give and take: Nongpoh MLA
However, Congress MLA from Nongpoh, Mayralborn Syiem has vehemently opposed the proposal to redraw the map of the two states.
“They are talking about redrawing the boundary line but we are neither going to accept such an offer nor are we going to accept the idea of give and take policy,” Syiem, whose constituency shares a lengthy boundary with Assam, said on Friday.
Making it clear that Meghalaya should get what is in its jurisdiction, Syiem said that they are not in favour of the ideas proposed during the meeting between the two CMs.
“Whatever is a part and parcel of Meghalaya should be brought back from Assam,” he added.
Syiem was of the view that the traditional chiefs of the state have better knowledge of the actual boundaries of the state and their opinion has to be taken into consideration before deciding on the matter.