SHILLONG:
The chief ministers of Assam and Meghalaya will together visit West Jaintia Hills and Karbi Anglong area by the end of this month.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said, “The joint visit will be towards the end of June.”
He said that the two chief ministers will visit certain areas where there has been a lot of tension. “The idea is to build up the confidence of the people out there and also to send a positive message to the people that we are serious about finding a solution to this border problem,” Sangma added.
The first official chief ministerial level meeting between the two states on the second phase of border talks to resolve the remaining six areas of difference was held at Guwahati on May 24.
The meeting had decided that the two chief ministers will conduct a joint visit to West Jaintia Hills and Karbi Anglong areas in June as part of confidence-building measures, where there has been a lot of unrest and conflict in recent times between the Karbi and Jaintia communities.
Assam Chief Minister Himanata Biswa Sarma said, “From today the regional committees of both states will start meeting, visiting the other state’s sites or areas, where difference still exists. In the month of June, in the last part of June, the Chief Minister of Meghalaya and myself will visit Karbi Anglong and the Jaintia Hills area where presently some unrest is going on as a confidence-building measure.”
“The people on both sides will feel confident and they will be assured that both the states will resolve the differences, resolve the dispute with a spirit of the long-existing friendship between the people of Meghalaya and Assam,” he had added.
He was hopeful to resolve the issues and differences through the process of discussion and mutual trust and confidence.
The regional committees will submit their reports by July end after which the CM-level review meeting will be held.