Much to the relief of everyone, the tension which was brewing up at Hime village near Arunachal-Assam boundary has been defused for now following the intervention of Galo Welfare Society (GWS), Mishing Autonomous Council (MAC) and Mishing Bane Kebang. The inter-state boundary row erupted after Assam government engaged a contractor to construct road inside the Arunachal territory. The attempt of contractor was meet with stiff resistance from the people of Hime village. Soon it snowballed into a major controversy. However the mature handling of situation by the authorities and civil society bodies has calmed down the situation.
The important role played by Galo Welfare Society and Mishing Bane Kebang in defusing the tension shows that community based organizations can play major part in solving the Assam-Arunachal boundary row. As government of both the states along with centre has failed to resolve the inter-state boundary problem even after so many years, the time has come for citizens to take lead role. If people living along the inter-state boundary respect each other’s sentiment and do not encroach into others land, the situation will gradually improve. There should be more dialogue and discussion involving NGOs and community based organizations. It will help to understand each other’s view in much better way. After Nyishi of Arunachal and Bodo of Assam, now Galo and Mishing tribes have shown that the dialogue involving community based organizations is perhaps the best shot to resolve the long pending inter-state boundary row.