Assam-Meghalaya joint committee to address bilateral issues, including USTM, next week

Guwahati, Sept 5: The Meghalaya and Assam governments are slated to establish a joint committee of government officials by next week to address issues of bilateral concern.

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, while addressing a press meet on Wednesday, said the discussions were held with his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma to establish the joint committee, and this issue would take up various issues apart from the boundary-related matters.

“Issues such as graduates from USTM not getting Assam government jobs are the kind of matters that may be taken up,” Sangma said, while not going into the details on the agendas the committee would take up.

On the next round of boundary settlement meetings, Sangma said that by October the second phase of the boundary talks would be held. The regional committees of both the states would then hold discussions on the six areas of difference between the two states.

Sangma said both the government don’t want to rush into a settlement as the six remaining areas are “complex and sensitive” and so more time is being taken.

He said the first six areas in which both governments have signed an agreement and settled were “slightly more solvable” but the remaining areas are sensitive and both governments would “approach these areas carefully.”

Meanwhile, the delay in the second phase of negotiations between the governments despite repeated assurances of resuming the talks has raised concerns among citizens of both states.

Addressing the issue, Chief Minister Sangma clarified that the pause in negotiations is not due to a lack of enthusiasm but rather the increased complexity and sensitivity of the second phase.

Sangma pointed out that contentious locations such as Langpih, Psiar, Khanduli, and Block-II are among the more intricate areas in this phase, contributing to the slower progress compared to the initial talks.

In March 2022, the chief ministers had signed an agreement in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah to resolve the first phase of their five-decade-old inter-state border dispute involving six districts.