A historic agreement to settle the long-pending border dispute between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh was signed in the presence of Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Shri Amit Shah, in New Delhi on April 20.
Key points
- This important agreement was signed by the Chief Ministers of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.
- The two states share a roughly 800-kilometre long border and the disputed areas the MoU deals with are 123 border villages, which span 12 districts of Arunachal Pradesh and 8 districts of Assam.
- Agreement between the two states will end the dispute relating to 123 villages along the border.
- Under the agreement, both the state governments have agreed that this agreement will be final with regards to these 123 disputed villages and neither of the States will make any new claim related to any area or village in future.
Background
- Before North East Frontier Agency or NEFA (former name of what is now Arunachal Pradesh) was carved out of Assam in 1954, a sub-committee headed by then Assam Chief Minister Gopinath Bordoloi had made a set of recommendations in relation to the administration of NEFA and submitted a report in 1951.
- When Arunachal was made a Union Territory in 1972, it contended that several forested tracts in the plains that had traditionally belonged to hill tribal chiefs and communities were unilaterally transferred to Assam.
