Shillong, July 27:

Brief 

– Three regional committees to be formed for visit to areas of differences for gathering facts and holding consultations with stakeholders at local level
– Committees are for West Khasi Hills District, Ri-Bhoi District, and one for both East and West Jaintia Hills
– They will submit regular reports to Chief Minister
– Later a State level Committee will be formed for a larger consultation with different stakeholders

Full Report

Meghalaya Government has decided to form three regional committees to hold consultations with different stakeholders in the state as part of initiation of discussions towards finding a solution to the interstate boundary issue with Assam. The facts, issues and suggestions gathered by these committees will be submitted to the Chief Minister, who will discuss these with his Assam counterpart at a later stage.

This comes after the official meeting between Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma and Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on the border issue last week in Shillong.

Briefing reporters after a Cabinet meeting on Monday, Sangma said, “These regional committee’s will be mainly one for West Khasi Hills District, one for Ri-Bhoi and one for both East and West Jaintia Hills.”

Each Committee will be headed by one of the Cabinet Minister’s and other members like local MLAs or Member of District Council (MDC) and stakeholders will be part of it.

Sangma informed that the border issue was also discussed in the recent all NE CM meeting with the Union Home Minister Amit Shah on July 24. Shah had stressed on the need to find an amicable solution.

“All these matters were briefed to the Cabinet today (Monday) and during the meeting we also suggested and discussed on how we should move forward in this situation,” he said.

Once the Committees are formed, consultations with different stakeholders in their respective areas will be carried out. They will also make field visits and submit reports regularly on different issues and facts that are present at ground zero in their respective areas.

At a later stage, the chief minister will also start consulting with individual groups and stakeholders at his level.

“Ultimately, we will form a state level Committee also and then have a larger consultation with different stakeholders be it political parties, different DC or Headmen, Syiems, Civil societies, will be there in the consultative committee but this will be at a later stage,” informed the CM.

The vexed inter-state boundary row between Assam-Meghalaya has been a long pending issue for 49 years. Many stakeholders are hoping for a solution before the state celebrates its 50th statehood.