ITANAGAR, 22 Jun: Newly elected People’s Party of Arunachal (PPA) legislator Nabam Vivek on Saturday asserted that he would prioritise resolving the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border dispute in his Doimukh constituency.
Despite the 2022 agreement between the two governments to resolve the longstanding issues, people of some villages under the Doimukh assembly segment strongly objected to the boundary demarcation.
“I have requested Chief Minister Pema Khandu to reconstitute the regional committee immediately, so that a consensus can be reached between the villagers of both the states and to draw the boundary line,” Vivek told PTI.
On 15 July, 2022, the historic Namsai Declaration was signed between the two governments, and Arunachal got 86 villages as compared to its claim of 123.
“There is no problem between the governments of the two states,” Vivek said, adding that the issues lie at the ground level.
“The boundary issue is a major concern for me. In the disputed border region, I am the only representative from the Arunachal side, while Assam, which shares a long boundary with my constituency, from Bedeti in Biswanath district to Boginadi in Lakhimpur district, has 6-7 MLAs,” he said.
Both governments are determined to resolve the issues amicably, he said.
“I will go to the ground level, discuss with the people and try to convince them. Resolving the border dispute was a poll promise,” the 51-year-old lawmaker said.
Assam and Arunachal share an 804.1-km-long border.
Arunachal, which was made a union territory in 1972, has been maintaining that several forest tracts in the plains traditionally belonged to hill tribal chiefs and communities and these were “unilaterally” transferred to Assam earlier.
After Arunachal achieved statehood in 1987, a tripartite committee was appointed, which recommended that certain territories be transferred from Assam to Arunachal.
Assam contested this and the matter was in the Supreme Court for a long time.
Vivek said also that he would work to construct an RCC bridge to connect Doimukh with Yupia, the Papum Pare district headquarters, besides concentrating on health and education. (PTI)
