Assam students urge Centre to take 'local peoples' views' before fixing Assam-Meghalaya border row

"When we visited a few border areas, we have found that many families living in the disputed areas want to remain with Assam whereas some prefer to stay with Meghalaya. Without taking the consensus of the local people, the matter can't be resolved," said President of the influential student body of Assam (AASU) Dipanka Kumar Nath to ETV Bharat.

New Delhi: As Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Meghalaya counterpart Conrad Sangma are meeting Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi to end the decades-long border conflict, All Assam Students Union (AASU) on Wednesday reiterated its demand that consensus of the local people living in the "disputed area" must be taken into consideration before making any deal.

"When we visited a few border areas, we have found that many families living in the disputed areas want to remain with Assam whereas some prefer to stay with Meghalaya. Without taking the consensus of the local people, the matter can't be resolved," said President of the influential student body of Assam (AASU) Dipanka Kumar Nath to ETV Bharat. Nath said that they will submit a report to the Assam as well as the Central government.

He said that a delegation of several students union including AASU, Garo Students Union (GSU), All Bodo Students Union (ABSU), All Rabha Students Union (ARSU), All Assam Gorkha Students Union (AAGSU) visited some disputed areas and interacted with the people living there for last many decades.

"We visited many places of the disputed Boklapara area under West Guwahati constituency in Kamrup district and we have found that several Garo and Khasi people want to stay with Meghalaya, whereas several families of Assam origin want to stay with Assam," said Nath.

During their visit, the delegation interacted with the people at Athiabari, Chutia Bazar, Hashim, Salbari, Malchapara, Gohanimara, Amagaon, and other places.

It may be mentioned here that after several rounds of discussions, both Assam and Meghalaya governments have come up with a draft resolution to end the border dispute in six of the 12 "disputed areas" along the 884-km boundary.

As per the proposed resolution for the 36.79 square km of land, a copy of which was submitted to Home Minister Amit Shah, Assam will keep 18.51 square km and give the remaining 18.28 square km to Meghalaya.

Both Sarma and Sangma reached Delhi on Wednesday and they are meeting Home Minister Amit Shah to get his consensus before finalizing the border deal.

Significantly, both the Assam and Meghalaya cabinets already approved the recommendation amid protest by the opposition parties. "The final resolution should be tabled in the Assembly to get the consensus over the deal," said Nath.

In fact, leaders of several opposition parties already raised their voices against the "give and take" policy of both governments. The Trinamool Congress (TMC) in Meghalaya also opposed the deal asking the National People's Party (NPP)-led the State government to discuss the matter with all stakeholders.

Former Chief Minister of Meghalaya and TMC leader Mukul Sangma appealed to the State government to avoid making any agreement in a hurry.

"Government needs to have a practical understanding of the complex and contentious issues related to the decades-long border dispute," said Sangma to this correspondent.