Guwahati, Nov 10: Assam and Arunachal Pradesh held another round of chief ministerial-level talks on the decades-long inter-state boundary row and deliberated on the progress made by the regional committees of the two states that were constituted under the Namsai Declaration earlier this year.
The high-level meeting was held at the Assam State Guest House at Koinadhora here on Thursday.
“As a follow-up of the Namsai Declaration, held a meeting with Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Pema Khandu and a high-level delegation led by him. Deliberated on the progress achieved by ‘regional committees’ jointly headed by the ministers of the two states, among other issues,” Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma informed on his official Twitter handle.
It may be mentioned that regional committees from both states had initiated the process of visits to the “points of differences” along the interstate boundary on August 22, subsequent to the Namsai Declaration.
Under the Namsai Declaration, both the states have agreed to constitute 12 regional committees, each covering the 12 districts of Arunachal Pradesh and the counterpart districts of Assam for joint verification of villages and thereafter make recommendations to the respective state governments.
During the third round of chief minister-level inter-state boundary talks at Namsai in mid-July this year, the two states had mutually agreed in principle that issues in 37 of the 123 “disputed” villages were more or less resolved.”
“The chief ministers’ level meeting on the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border issues at Koinadhora will be a watershed moment in our collective resolve to address outstanding issues amicably,” Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Pema Khandu reacted to the meeting here on Thursday.