ITANAGAR, 26 Aug: The deputy commissioners of 12 districts sharing interstate boundary with Assam have been directed to submit a “ground assessment report of their respective interstate border, based on the recommendations of the local commission appointed by the Supreme Court, to the high-power ministerial committee (HPMC) within two months from Thursday.”
The direction was issued during a meeting between the HPMC and the district level committees (DLC) here on Thursday.
The DLCs were constituted on 15 July this year to study the current interstate border status of their respective districts in consultation with the respective stakeholders, viz, student unions, community-based organizations, PRI members, etc.
The 12 districts which are to submit their reports to the HPMC on or before 26 October are West Kameng, Pakke-Kessang, Papum Pare, Kamle, Lower Siang, Lower Dibang Valley, East Siang, Lohit, Namsai, Changlang, Longding and Tirap.
Presiding over the meeting, Home Minister Bamang Felix, who is also the HPMC chairman, said: “We should make it our intention to solve the interstate boundary issue, so that our future generation doesn’t face the same boundary issues that we face today.”
He exhorted the DCs to undertake the exercise with utmost sincerity.
Acknowledging that the task given to the DLCs is tough, Felix, however, asserted that “there is enough political will within the government, among all political parties in the state, community-based organizations and student unions to resolve the issue once and for all, and for which all will also extend their support and cooperation.”
The HPMC has decided to take the recommendations of the local commission appointed by the Supreme Court as the basis of the state’s boundary claims, and to take 2007 as the year of reference for the assessment of the interstate boundary demarcation.
Besides the HPMC members and the DCs, the meeting was attended by legislators of all assembly constituencies, and the SPs concerned.
