Guwahati:
In an important development, Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio said today that Assam and Nagaland are ready for an out-of-court settlement of their decades-old state border dispute. Both states have agreed to share royalties of petroleum from the disputed territory. Mr Rio met his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma in Guwahati today.
The Assam government filed a case in the Supreme Court in 1988 to resolve the border dispute.
Mr Rio said a delegation from Assam and Nagaland will meet Home Affairs Minister Amit Shah in Delhi in early February and discuss the way forward.
After Mr Rio, Nagaland Deputy Prime Minister Y Patton and Naga People’s Front, or NPF, Legislative Party leader TR Zeilang met with Mr Sarma on Sunday.
The Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, Pema Khandu, also met Mr Sarma in Guwahati today.
The select committee of the Nagaland assembly to investigate the border issue has held a meeting.
“We had gone to Guwahati and had fruitful discussions on the border issue with Sarma. Nagaland and Assam had taken up the matter together with Interior Minister Amit Shah on December 23, 2020,” Mr Rio told reporters in Kohima.
“Both state governments are in favor of an out-of-court settlement, and perhaps our teams will meet Shah in the first half of February to discuss and formulate how to handle this. The disputed sites are divided into four sectors,” Mr. Rio.
“The issue of royalty sharing across the disputed territories was also discussed and it is taking shape. An earlier team from both states, along with the Chief Secretary, met Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and discussed petroleum royalty sharing and natural gas along the disputed sites. If we resolve the border dispute and the issue of royalties, it will be good for both parties as we remain neighbors,” said Mr. Rio.
The CRPF has been stationed along the disputed area on the Assam-Nagaland border since 1971. The center established the KVK Sundaram Commission to settle the border dispute. The Sundaram Commission has prepared a report, but Nagaland has not accepted the recommendations.