SHILLONG: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Tuesday disclosed that the next rounds of talks to resolve the problems related to the inter-state boundary disputes with Assam will resume in the month of May.
Conrad K Sangma mentioned that these talks aim to resolve the problems related to the remaining six areas of the state wherein there is a conflict regarding the interstate boundaries.
However, the exact dates or the venues of these meetings were not revealed by the Chief Minister.
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The resolution of the border disputes was a key point in the election promises made by the National People’s Party (NPP) as well as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Meghalaya.
A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the two states more than a year back to bring an end to this conflict.
But opposition regarding the same from multiple organizations and the incidence of violence in one of the conflicted regions led to the postponement of the further rounds of the talks, which is due to restart in the coming month.
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Conrad said talks would kick off as soon as the regional committees discussed the details.
Both states had signed a historic agreement in the national capital to resolve their 50-year-old pending boundary differences in March last year.
According to the proposed recommendations under the previous agreement for the 36.79 square km of land, Assam will keep 18.51 square km and give the remaining 18.28 square km to Meghalaya.
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The long-standing land dispute was sparked in 1972 when Meghalaya was carved out of Assam.
The border issues came as a result of different readings of the demarcation of boundaries in the initial agreement for the new state’s creation.
Also read: Inter-state boundary row: Tension erupts along Assam-Meghalaya border