Two committees set up by the Meghalaya government to solve its border disputes with Assam submitted their reports to Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Wednesday.

Meghalaya shares a border with seven districts of northern and western Assam. At least 12 points along the border are disputed. In November, Meghalaya and Assam had said that they will form three committees each to settle the disputes. They had resolved to settle six of the 12 disputed areas by end of the year.

Two of the three committees formed by Meghalaya – for Ri-Bhoi and West Khasi Hills districts –submitted their recommendations to the Meghalaya chief minister on Wednesday.

The Ri-Bhoi committee was led by Meghalaya Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong. Meghalaya Cabinet minister Renikton Lyngdoh Tongkhar headed the West Khasi Hills committee.

The committees have completed exhaustive inspections of disputed areas along the Meghalaya-Assam border, Sangma said in a tweet.

He added that his government will soon hold a meeting with all the stakeholders in the state before taking up the matter with his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma, PTI reported.

The details of the reports are not available yet. The third committee has asked for an extension till December 15 to submit its report, according to PTI.

The Meghalaya deputy chief minister told PTI that the responsibility of the committees was to speak to residents and prepare reports based on historical, geographical and ethnic facts.

“Now the ball is in the court of the chief ministers of the two states,” Tynsong said. “They need to sit down to decide and bring out a solution [to the border row].”

Meanwhile, Tongkhar said he hoped that the two states will resolve the matter. “We hope it will be in the interest of the state and the people residing in the border areas,” he added, according to PTI.

The Meghalaya-Assam dispute

Territorial disputes between the two states began after Assam was restructured to form other states – including Meghalaya – post Independence, and have been running since then. Meghalaya was demarcated in 1972.

In July this year, there had been protests in Iongkhuli village in Meghalaya’s Ri-Bhoi district against the Assam police, who had reportedly dismantled electricity pole in the area.

The poles had been set up by Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited on “the same stretch where Assam Electricity Board had erected electric poles in the month of January 2021,” the Meghalaya police had said.

The situation was brought under control after deliberations with the officials from Assam and the protestors.