By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, July 23: In a serious breakthrough, Meghalaya and Assam governments have determined to journey past establishment and begin resolving their boundary dispute at locations much less complicated by following the coverage of “give and take” or “redrawing the map” wherever required.
The choice was arrived at throughout the official-level talks between Chief Minister, Conrad Okay Sangma and his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma. There could be additional deliberations on the vexed situation within the second spherical of talks to be held in Guwahati on August 6.
“We’ve come to a standard understanding that we have to journey past establishment. At any time when we met up to now, a joint assertion was issued that each states have agreed to keep up the established order. This time nevertheless, we’re going to say to the individuals of Meghalaya and Assam that we’re dedicated to resolving the dispute,” the Assam CM advised reporters.
Stating that backed by historic information and different information, Meghalaya has recognized 12 areas of variations and equally, Assam justified its claims on the websites in query, Sarma stated, “In view of the contradictory stand, you will need to resolve the difficulty within the spirit of give and take and contemplating the long-standing friendship between Assam and Meghalaya and likewise to maintain the spirit of the Northeast alive”.
By elevating claims and counter-claims, the dispute can by no means be resolved. What’s crucial is a practical strategy, he stated.
“We’ve determined that each one 12 areas shall be mentioned, one after the other. We’ll focus on the deserves and demerits of claims and counter-claims. Wherever we’ll really feel it’s straightforward to resolve, we’ll begin resolving it,” Sarma stated, including that it might not be attainable to resolve all the dispute in a single go.
Asserting that each states favour an early resolution to the issue, the Assam CM stated, “The dispute can’t be resolved inside a timeframe. In some areas, it’s not very complicated, so we’ll handle these first.”
He stated during time, the Authorities of India should intervene as below the Structure, it’s only the Parliament that may redraw state boundaries.
“As we’re discussing, we get an impression that some guiding power ought to be there. So, at an acceptable time, we’ll go to the Authorities of India,” Sarma stated.
Assuring that the 2 states will preserve making efforts to discover a resolution, he stated he has invited Sangma to Guwahati on August 6 to carry the second spherical of official talks on the difficulty.
Sangma stated individuals residing on the border have suffered for too lengthy because the dispute remained unresolved.
“We each have met on a number of events and at present, we had our first official assembly with our officers and it was optimistic. We’ve determined that we’ll now not have a look at establishment however attempt to discover a resolution,” he stated.
Stating that discovering an answer is not going to be straightforward, the Meghalaya CM stated, “One shouldn’t count on us to resolve the issue in a matter of days. This may require consultancy and a whole lot of homework. We will even want to take a look at the present state of affairs on the websites”.
He noticed that relying completely on historical past and documentation of the previous might not be the perfect strategy. “We’re going to have a look at factual information however we additionally want to take a look at what different methods we may transfer ahead in an effort to discover a resolution that’s amicable,” Sangma stated.
“Our officers have already began the homework. They are going to be conducting quite a few conferences earlier than our second assembly in Guwahati,” the CM added.
No re-drawing of map, no give and take: Nongpoh MLA
Nevertheless, Congress MLA from Nongpoh, Mayralborn Syiem has vehemently opposed the proposal to redraw the map of the 2 states.
“They’re speaking about redrawing the boundary line however we’re neither going to just accept such a proposal nor are we going to just accept the concept of give and take coverage,” Syiem, whose constituency shares a prolonged boundary with Assam, stated on Friday.
Making it clear that Meghalaya ought to get what’s in its jurisdiction, Syiem stated that they don’t seem to be in favour of the concepts proposed throughout the assembly between the 2 CMs.
“No matter is part and parcel of Meghalaya ought to be introduced again from Assam,” he added.
Syiem was of the view that the standard chiefs of the state have higher data of the particular boundaries of the state and their opinion needs to be considered earlier than deciding on the matter.
