Assam – Meghalaya Border Talks: West Jaintia Hills regional committee to submit report within 2 months

Shillong, Dec 19: The regional committee for West Jaintia Hills has decided to submit its report to the state government within two months.

Informing this after chairing a meeting here on Thursday, Chairman of the committee and Deputy Chief Minister incharge Urban Affairs, Sniawbhalang Dhar, said, “We have asked the district administration to prepare the report (in regards to villages under Block-I area) for which they have requested time to complete within one or two months.”

“Once the report is ready, we will present it to the state government, which will then study it before calling on our counterpart in Assam,” he added.

On the demand for retransferring 36 villages under Block-I back to Meghalaya, Dhar said, “Yes, they (people) have expressed their feelings on this and we have captured all those points and requests made. However, both state governments will sit along with the two regional committees (and based on our reports), they will decide on the matter.”

He informed that the regional committee will sit again in the second or third week of January, next year.

Further, Dhar also informed that the committee has also discussed the incident of some construction by Assam side in the Block I area.

“We have accordingly instructed the district administration to stop the construction work as it falls under the areas of difference,” he said while emphasizing the need to maintain the status quo.

On the other hand, the deputy chief minister stressed on the importance for both the states to allow developmental activities on condition that the respective district administrations are informed, which is not the case in the recent incident.

Stating that the government is committed to resolve the border issue, Dhar said that the chief ministers of Assam and Meghalaya will soon fix a date for visiting the areas of difference.

“Although there is no deadline for the second phase of border talks, we are trying to resolve the issue at the earliest possible,” he added.

Read: Assam Govt to purchase 40% share of BVFCL for setting up 4th unit of fertilizer plant in Namrup

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