Shillong, June 28: Meghalaya government has been pursuing the inter-state border issue with the Assam government in hopes of finding solutions that are amicable and acceptable to both sides. But there is no simple solution to this issue which has been lingering for 49 years. At the same time, the discussions have been held at unofficial level so far with nothing being discussed officially, yet.
But the present time is ‘good time’ to take this vexed issue forward as ‘there is very positive friendship between the leadership in Assam and Meghalaya’, Meghalaya Chief Minister, Conrad K Sangma told reporters on Monday.
“This is a good time to take this issue forward as there is very positive friendship between the leadership in Assam and Meghalaya at this point in time, and the government of India is also actively pursuing this matter. The overall environment is also conducive to take the discussions forward,” he said while informing that last week he had discussions on the matter with Assam Chief Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma.
Although the discussion was unofficial, the talk has helped to level up the process whereby official communication to take the discussion forward has come in.
He informed that the Government of India is also keen on finding a permanent solution to this matter which is critical to both the states. The CM shared that Union Home Minister Amit Shah is very keen to resolve the issue at the earliest and the latter has mentioned that when countries like Bangladesh and India can resolve issues, why can’t the states within the country. He said the Centre has also initiated discussions and processes to figure out if there can be an amicable solution to this issue.
“The border issue with Assam has been a continuous process and we have been talking unofficially about the issue. This issue is not new to us. It’s been there for 49 years. There is no simple solution to this. In order to take things forward, we need to find ways and means to come up with solutions that are acceptable by both sides and amicable,” he said.
He added that it is difficult to say right now which direction things will go in, but assured that “as a government, it is our endeavour to see that we find a permanent solution to this problem.”
To express the seriousness of the government on the issue, Sangma said he has spent more time on the border issue than any other issue in the last three weeks. He, however, reiterated that this is “not a simple issue, it’s a very complicated issue. Therefore, there will not be a simple solution.”
