Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma today said that today’s meeting with his Meghalaya counterpart Conrad Sangma can be treated as one of the confidence building measures as far as the boundary issue is concerned.
Both the chief ministers today held an informal meeting at the Meghalaya Secretariat. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss ways and means to resolve the remaining six areas of differences along the border of the two states.
“With these confidence building measures we will soon visit the border because we thought that our visit should not create tension. If both the CMs go to that area and after our return there is tension then people will blame us. So we want to have some confidence building measures and thereafter we’ll have formal meetings. Once the confidence building measures are formalised, we’ll go to the site, and we’ll discuss with the people of the border village,” he said.
When asked about the date for the official meeting, Sarma said that once the ongoing Assam Assembly session is completed the two states will probably meet in October.
“If the Meghalaya chief minister can come to Guwahati in the first week of October or second week we would have the official meeting,” he added.
Stating that the dispute in the remaining six areas is a little bit complicated, Sarma however said that he has confidence in a solution since the regional committees of the two states are headed by mature people on both sides.
“We are working very hard and they (regional committees) are visiting those areas frequently and we believe that everything will be settled in a most peaceful and amicable manner,” Sarma added.
He also appealed to people on both sides of the border to maintain peace and harmony.
“They must remember that we are working overtime to resolve that dispute. We want to keep the best interest of people living in the border in our mind and protect their interests. We’ll try to resolve that dispute to the satisfaction of people of both the states,” Sarma said.
