Staff REPORTER
Itanagar, Mar 12: Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu assured the State Assembly on Wednesday that his government will take up the vexed boundary dispute concerning eastern Arunachal district of Changlang with the Assam government in coming days for an amicable solution.
Responding to a supplementary question raised by Nampong MLA Laisam Simai, Khandu revealed that Changlang was not included in the Supreme Court-constituted Local Boundary Commission report, as the district administration had failed to submit its report on time. This omission led to Changlang being excluded from the Namsai Declaration—a landmark agreement signed on July 15, 2022, by the Chief Ministers of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, wherein both the leaders agreed in-principle to reduce the number of disputed villages from 123 to 86.
The Chief Minister informed the House that he has already held multiple meetings with his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma regarding the issue. He assured that the Assam government has agreed to address the matter separately.
Khandu reiterated that due to the proactive efforts of both state governments, the decades-old inter-state boundary dispute, pending since 1951, has been resolved in five districts. The remaining six districts, apart from Changlang, are nearing a settlement, with Regional Committees set to demarcate disputed areas to reach a final resolution.
Home and Inter-State Border Affairs Minister Mama Natung, while addressing the concerns shared by Simai, informed that Assam government objected to Changlang’s inclusion in the dispute resolution process, citing that no villages from the district were included in the 123 disputed villages listed in the Local Commission report of 2014.
Acknowledging that five villages of Changlang district are located in Assam side, the Minister said that despite the absence of a Regional Committee for Changlang, the State Government has formally requested Assam for an early resolution of the issue.
Natung also mentioned that boundary disputes in West Kameng, East Siang, Lohit, Tirap, and Namsai “were considered to have been resolved based on the respective committee reports”, while issues concerning Pakke Kessang, Papum Pare, Kamle, Lower Siang, Lower Dibang Valley, and Longding remain under review.
Earlier, raising the issue in the Assembly, MLA Laisam Simai highlighted that the Regional Committee for Changlang, formed in June 2022, has remained inactive due to Assam’s objections. He pointed out that Changlang, the second-most populous district in Arunachal after Papum Pare, shares the longest border with Assam and frequently faces boundary-related skirmishes.
He emphasized that Changlang must not be overlooked and demanded that the state government take immediate steps to find a permanent solution of the boundary dispute.