Arunachal to undertake ground assessment of border with Assam

Itanagar: Arunachal Pradesh Home Minister Bamang Felix directed the deputy commissioners of 12 districts that share borders with Assam to submit a ground assessment report on the inter-state boundary within two months, officials said on Friday.

Felix issued the directive on Thursday during a meeting of the High Power Ministerial Committee (HPMC) with the district-level committees that were constituted on July 15 to study the interstate border status, they said.

The DCs were asked to submit the assessment reports based on the recommendations of the Local Commission appointed by the Supreme Court, they said.

The districts were asked to submit reports by October 26. Theses districts are West Kameng, Pakke Kessang, Papum Pare, Kamle, Lower Siang, Lower Dibang Valley, East Siang, Lohit, Namsai, Changlang, Longding and Tirap, they added.

“We should make our intention clear to solve the interstate boundary issue so that our future generation does not face the same problem that we face today,” Felix said, exhorting the DCs to undertake the exercise with utmost sincerity.

Acknowledging that the task given to the district-level committees is tough, the home minister asserted that there is enough political will in the government, political parties of the state, community-based organisations and students’ unions to resolve the issue.

The HPMC decided to make recommendations of the Local Commission appointed by the Supreme Court as the basis of the state’s border claims, making 2007 the year of reference for the assessment of the interstate boundary demarcation.