An inter-district boundary row is as much of a niggle for Arunachal Pradesh as the dispute along certain stretches of its 804.1 km boundary with Assam.
The frontier State’s Chief Minister Pema Khandu said his government was nearing a permanent solution to the decades-old boundary dispute with Assam. However, he indicated it would not be easy to settle an inter-district boundary dispute unless the people involved cooperated with the government.
The dispute is between East Siang and Lower Siang, which was created in 2013 along with three other districts – Kra-Daadi, Namsai and Siang.
At a function in Lower Siang’s Hime on Wednesday, Mr. Khandu said the government had, months ago, taken a decision on the demarcation of the district with Siji as its headquarters. Lower Siang could not be developed at par with the other new districts because of the opposition to the decision.
“We had to take a decision with the consensus of all involved and affected. We have to leave behind all these issues and focus on development of your areas,” he said.
The Chief Minister also said the boundary dispute with Assam would be settled soon.
“The first round of meeting to resolve the issue has already concluded with the support of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. The second round to be held in the next few days will be followed by meeting all the stakeholders. We are committed to working out a permanent solution to all our existing boundary issues,” he said.
The March 29 agreement between Assam and Meghalaya to resolve six of the 12 dispute sectors along their 884.9 km border has triggered hope for the settlement of similar disputes over Assam’s boundaries with other north-eastern States, chiefly Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, and Nagaland.
Assam and Arunachal Pradesh have disputed about 1,200 spots along the inter-State boundary. The bone of contention is said to be the transfer of about 3,648 sq. km of land from present-day Arunachal Pradesh to Assam through a notification in 1951.
