SHILLONG, Jan 3: The regional committees of Ri-Bhoi and Kamrup (Metro) districts on the border issue exchanged their reports during a meeting held in Shillong on Monday.
Deputy Chief Minister, Prestone Tynsong, who is the chairman of the regional committee for Ri-Bhoi, exchanged the report with Assam Cabinet Minister and chairman of the regional committee for Kamrup (Metro), Pijush Hazarika in the presence of Chief Minister, Conrad K Sangma and other senior government officials of both states.
The two committees had carried out an inspection of the villages along the disputed stretch of the interstate boundary in the two districts. Sangma told reporters they had a detailed discussion on the reports.
“Now the Assam government has the report prepared by the Meghalaya government and vice versa. We will again have a detailed discussion during the meeting at the Chief Minister-level to take decisions and finalise the reports. We expect some decisions on the first phase in the coming weeks,” Sangma said.
He said Cabinet Minister and chairman of the regional committee for West Khasi Hills, Renikton Tongkhar will hold a meeting with his Assam counterpart vis-à-vis chairman of the regional committee for Kamrup, Atul Bora in Guwahati on Tuesday to take the discussions further on that sector.
“We are hopeful things will move in a positive direction,” Sangma said.
He said the committee for East Jaintia Hills could not submit its report due to the gap in view of the festive week.
“I am sure we will get the report shortly. We had gone ahead with the discussion unofficially without getting the report. We were briefed of the findings of the two regional committees of Meghalaya and Assam. We are aware of the content of (East Jaintia Hills committee’s) report. The only thing is that physical copy of the report is not submitted to us yet,” Sangma said.
He said the two governments are committed to finding an amicable solution. “But we cannot give a definite date as to when it can be resolved,” Sangma said.
Tynsong had earlier stated the two states will try to resolve the dispute in some of the six areas of differences within January 15.