Biswanath, Oct 13 : The second Regional Committee meeting on inter-state boundary issues involving Papum Pare district of Arunachal Pradesh and Lakhimpur and Biswanath districts of Assam was held today at the Biswanath Circuit House.
The Arunachal Pradesh Regional Committee delegation was led by its chairman - Balo Raja, Minister for Urban Affairs, Land Management and Civil Aviation. The delegation included the local MLA from Doimukh, Nabam Vivek; Secretary (Border Affairs),  Mamu Hage; Deputy Commissioner, Papum Pare; Taru Gusar, Superintendent of Police, Papum Pare; and other senior administrative officers.
The Assam delegation was led by Keshab Mahanta, Minister for Revenue and other departments and Chairman of the Regional Committee for Biswanath and Lakhimpur. It included Ranoj Pegu, Minister for Education and other departments; Ranjit Dutta, Member of Parliament; Members of the Legislative Assembly Utpal Borah, Pallab Lochan Das, Murindra Das, Bhupan Kumar Borah and Rishiraj Hazarika; and senior officials, including L.S. Changsan, Additional Chief Secretary, the Deputy Commissioners of Lakhimpur and Biswanath, Divisional Forest Officers and others.
Detailed PowerPoint presentations were made by the Deputy Commissioners of Papum Pare and Biswanath on behalf of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam, respectively. They briefed the committee on the background, chronology of events and measures taken so far to resolve the outstanding disputes and differences. Following the first Regional Committee meeting held on 9th January, 2023, both sides conducted visits by respective Regional Committees, joint inspections by district administrations and held subsequent discussions at their levels.  Based on the ground realities observed across the disputed areas and villages, the two sides submitted their suggestions.
Both States constituted Regional Committees for their respective districts in accordance with the Namsai Declaration, signed by the incumbent Chief Ministers of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh on 15 July 2022, to resolve disputes concerning 86 villages. Today’s meeting focused on boundary issues involving villages in Biswanath and Lakhimpur districts of Assam and Papum Pare district of Arunachal Pradesh.
At the first Regional Committee meeting in Januar2023, the two States had agreed to identify uninhabited land for exchange in lieu of the inhabited villages located beyond three kilometres from the High-Powered Tripartite Committee Boundary Line, on both the Assam and Arunachal Pradesh sides, through continuous dialogue within six months. This exercise could not be completed within the stipulated period owing to several factors, including the general elections and the panchayat & local body elections in both States.
During the deliberations, the Regional Committees were informed that the villages had been classified into three categories: nine villages under Category I - where there is no dispute; 22 villages under Category II - where minor disputes remain; and two villages under Category III - where consensus is yet to be achieved.
After hearing both sides, the Chairpersons of the Regional Committees of the two States stressed on strict adherence to the status quo as of the cut-off date decided at the first Regional Committee meeting. No further encroachment or felling of trees shall be permitted on either side.
 First Information Reports registered against officials from both sides shall be withdrawn with due process. Immediate action shall be taken to erect boundary pillars along the villages under Category I. Minor disputes concerning all villages under Category II shall be settled, following which the same action prescribed for Category I shall be taken wherever possible at the district admin level, were among the several points.

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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