Assam-Arunachal ministerial team visits disputed border areas

Guwahati, Aug 22 (IANS) The ministers-headed regional committees, set up to resolve the inter-state border disputes between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, on Monday started visiting the disputed areas.Officials said that location-specific committees led by Arunachal Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein and Assam Border Protection and Development Minister Atul Bora visited different disputed areas of Tinsukia and Namsai district on Monday.Monday's visits were conducted following the 'Namsai Declaration' signed on July 15 by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Arunachal Pradesh counterpart Pema Khandu after a series of discussions.It was decided that the joint visits by the regional committees of both the states to the areas identified as disputed in eight districts of Assam that shares a border with 12 districts of Arunachal Pradesh would be concluded within August 31.Bora said that the visiting team talked with the villagers residing in the disputed Mengkengmiri, Simanta, and Tengapani border areas, and that he would submit reports to the Assam Chief Minister soon.The ministerial team would again visit the disputed areas on September 2 and 3.Assam-Arunachal Pradesh, which shares over 800 km border, had earlier agreed in principle to restrict the number of disputed villages to 86 instead of 123.Meanwhile, the 9th Chief Ministers-level meeting on Assam-Meghalaya border disputes, held here on Sunday, decided to form three regional level committees in the second phase to solve disputes in six remaining border areas between the two northeastern states.Besides Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya, Assam has border disputes with Mizoram, and Nagaland too.
--IANS sc/vd

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