GUWAHATI:
The regional committees of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh on October 21 night concluded that Namsang Tes Estate is an integral part of Dibrugarh (Assam) while Namsang River to be considered as the border between Dibrugarh (Assam) and Tirap (Arunachal Pradesh).
The regional committee of Assam headed by border affairs minister Atul Bora and the regional committee of Arunachal Pradesh headed by Wangki Lowang, which held a closed-door meeting at DC’s conference hall in Dibrugarh, concluded the border dispute between the two states in Dibrugarh districts of Assam and Tirap district of Arunachal Pradesh.
The meeting concluded that the claimed area by Tirap district (Arunachal Pradesh) is now 32.59 sq km against 123.755 sq km which was the original claim as per the Local Commission Report of 2007. There is a huge difference of 91.75 sq km which the people of Tirap have agreed not to claim as a goodwill gesture from the side of Arunachal Pradesh for an amicable settlement of the disputed border between the two states.
Notwithstanding anything contained in the claims and counter claims of both the states, the people of Tirap district through their regional committee proposed that the area from Hukanjuri Check Gate to Tipam River along with 315A and joining up to Dihing River following Tipam River and a patch of land along with Hukanajuri to Naitong Village route of Naitong Village be included in Tirap district of Arunachal Pradesh.
Earlier, the Dibrugarh district administration clarified that there is no existence of Poltonbasti Village under Naharkatia Revenue Circle as claimed by the Arunachal Pradesh government. However, Namsang Tea Estate falls under Naharkatia Revenue Circle of Dibrugarh district, it added.
However, the report of the two regional committees will be submitted to their respective chief ministers and the boundary will be finalised in the chief minister-level talks before signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the ministry of home affairs (MHA).
The Assam and Arunachal Pradesh governments have constituted 12 regional committees to bring an amicable end to the long-standing border dispute between the two states.
In the meeting, both regional committees decided to expedite the process of early resolution of disputed areas for Dibrugarh district (Assam) and Tirap district (Arunachal Pradesh).
Assam border protection and development minister Atul Bora, chairman of Arunachal Pradesh regional committee and PHE minister Wangki Lowang, Khonsa East MLA Wanglam Sawin, Naharkatia MLA Taranga Gogoi, Dibrugarh DC Biswajit Pegu, Dibrugarh SP Shwetank Mishra, Tirap DC Taro Mize, Tirap SP Kardak Riba and other officials were present in the meeting.
Earlier the two regional committees had jointly visited the disputed areas of Tirap and Dibrugarh. Following the inspection, the reports to be submitted by the two committees to the respective state governments were finalised at Friday’s meeting.
“Attended a meeting of the Chairman & Members of the Regional Committees constituted by the Govts of Assam & Arunachal Pradesh covering Tirap and Dibrugarh districts to resolve the long-standing inter-state border issue, in Dibrugarh today,” Assam minister Atul Borwa tweeted after the meeting.
“We are confident that with the strong political goodwill of Hon’ble CM Dr @himantabiswa and the sincere interest of Hon’ble Arunachal Pradesh CM @PemaKhanduBJP, the border issue between the two states will be resolved amicably,” Bora also tweeted.
Assam shares an 804-km inter-state border with Arunachal Pradesh and as many as eight districts in the frontier state and 12 districts in Assam are affected by the boundary dispute.
On July 15, the chief ministers of the two states met at Namsai in Arunachal Pradesh and signed Namsaai Declaration to end the border dispute between the two states.
The Namsai Declaration decided to “restrict” the number of disputed villages to 86 instead of 123. Out of the 37 villages where there is no dispute, 34 villages fall within the border of Arunachal Pradesh, the rest three lay in Assam.