A day after he and his Meghalaya counterpart inked a pact to partially resolve interstate border disputes, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday told the Assembly that Parliament would be taking a final call in the matter.
The two states had on Tuesday signed an agreement to resolve their five-decade-old border dispute in six of the 12 locations, with Union Home Minister Amit Shah calling it a "historic day for the Northeast.
Sarma, during his speech in the Assembly, said, What we have done so far is executive action and now it will be sent to the legislative domain. What we have signed is not final; Parliament will take a final decision after discussion.
The CM also pointed out that Parliament generally asked for opinion of state legislatures in cases pertaining to redrawing of boundaries, and when the agreement was moved before Assam Assembly, the House could either accept or reject it.
Discussion is needed in the House in the matter, but not today, the chief minister added.
Of the 36.79 sq km area taken up for resolution in first phase, Assam will get 18.46 sq km and Meghalaya 18.33 sq km as per the agreement between the two chief ministers, Sarma noted.
He said the proposed demarcation has been made on the basis of recommendations of three regional committees that were formed by the two state governments, following a chief ministerial-level meeting over the border issue on July 23, 2021.
The members of the committees, which included ministers and local MLAs, had visited the disputed areas and put together their recommendations, based on which the draft MoU was prepared by the two states, he said.
We then had an all-party meeting, where barring the Congress and Raijor Dal, all others welcomed the recommendations. We also met students and youth groups active in those (disputed) areas and they too accepted the recommendations.
The draft was then sent to the Union government and following an assessment done by Survey of India, the agreement was inked on Tuesday, he explained.
As only Parliament is empowered to redraw boundary, it will go through it (pact) and a final decision will be taken only after an assent is received, the chief minister said.
Asserting that "resolution for the six points of dispute has sown a new seed of hope the CM said that he wished to take the same model forward for solving similar issues with Arunachal Pradesh.
Sarma maintained that after his meeting with Arunachal Pradesh counterpart on January 24, 2022, the neighbouring state had submitted a revised demand, staking claim to 859 sq km from the earlier 1119.279 sq km.
The second round of talks with Arunachal Pradesh is likely to be held in April, he added.
Sarma also said, Efforts to find an amiable resolution to border disputes with Mizoram and Nagaland are also underway.
Stressing that it was necessary to work for achieving common aspirations, Sarma said, We (the North East) need a common taxation policy and a separate time zone to increase our efficiency and to promote the region as a tourism hub.
But we can’t move forward owing to the distrust among the states over border disputes. We need to face the reality and resolve differences, he contended.
Maintaining that "this is the best time to resolve" border disputes for the state, Sarma alleged that a section of people had always wanted to cause trouble.
A section of intellectuals wants to create disputes in every sphere… the so-called Left anarchist ideologists," he claimed.
Sarma, while sharing a copy of the MoU with Meghalaya in the House, said a visit of MLAs to the disputed areas where solutions have been proposed can be arranged as sought by the Congress.
Meghalaya was carved out of Assam as a separate state in 1972. The neighbouring state had challenged the Assam Reorganisation Act, 1971, leading to disputes in 12 areas along the 884.9-km interstate border.
