Shillong: The second phase of talks between Meghalaya and Assam on border dispute aimed at resolving differences relating to six disputed areas will be held in Guwahati on Sunday.
Meghalaya Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong said this on Saturday.
Assam and Meghalaya had signed a memorandum of understanding for ending the five-decade-old border dispute in six of the 12 disputed areas in New Delhi on March 29 in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Tynsong said Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma and his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma will hold a meeting in Guwahati on Sunday to discuss setting up regional committees to take forward the second phase of border talks for resolving the remaining six areas of difference.
Resolving the border issue with Assam is a priority of the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government, the deputy chief minister said.
The six areas that were taken up for final settlement in March include Tarabari (4.69 sq km), Gizang (13.53 sq km), Hahim (3.51 sq km), Boklapara (1.57 sq km), Khanapara-Pilingkata (2.29 sq km) and Ratacherra (11.20 sq km).
The remaining six areas include villages in disputed blocks 1 and 2 transferred from the then United Khasi and Jaintia district to Assam’s Karbi Anglong district for administrative convenience in the 50s.
In 1972, Meghalaya was carved out of Assam and both states share a 733-km inter-state boundary.