Meghalaya and Assam will continue with their negotiations as part of Phase 2 of the border dispute process until the Meghalaya High Court orders a halt.
This was stated by Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong today after the court temporarily stopped erection of boundary pillars in areas under the Phase 1 deal that was agreed in March.
Reacting to today’s ruling, Tynsong said, “Where is the pillar? In the first phase we only signed the MoU (memorandum of understanding) and we identified the places, areas and villages.”
Yesterday, the court issued a notice to the Assam government while hearing a writ petition by four traditional leaders who questioned the agreement signed by the two state governments.
Once the agreement was signed, the Survey of India was meant to take over the process to settle the border in minute detail.
With regards to Phase 2 in Ri-Bhoi, for which he is the regional committee chairman, Tynsong said, “As far as Ri-Bhoi is concerned, we have just finished our first round of talks among ourselves (on the Meghalaya side).”
Assam has its own regional committees but the two states have yet to come together for the Phase 2 negotiations.
