Amit Shah goes down in history as Assam, Arunachal end 50-year-old border dispute

New Delhi: The governments of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Thursday in the presence of Union Home Minister of Amit Shah to resolve their 50-year-old pending border dispute.The agreement was signed by signed by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Arunachal Pradesh counterpart Prema Khandu."The signing of an agreement for the settlement of an inter-state boundary dispute between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh is a very big achievement," Shah said. "Today, we have crossed the milestone for the establishment of a developed, peaceful and conflict-free northeast," the Union Home Minister said.The decision was finalised by the Assam cabinet on Wednesday which approved the recommendations given by 12 Regional Committees formed by the state government to settle the decades-long border dispute issue with Arunachal Pradesh.Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border disputeAssam and Arunachal Pradesh share an 804 km long boundary. The border dispute between the two states dates back to colonial times.Back in 1873, the British announced the “inner line” regulation, which demarcated an imaginary boundary between plains and the frontier hills. In 1915 it was designated as the Northeast Frontier Tracts.The region of the frontier hills makes up present-day Arunachal, which was earlier a part of Assam.After India's independence, the then government of Assam assumed jurisdiction over the North East Frontier Tracts, which became the North East Frontier Agency (NEFA) in 1954.The Union Territory of Arunachal Pradesh was formed in 1972. It gained statehood in 1987.The two states have had frequent disputes along the border since the 1990s. The main reason for almost the disputes were often said to be a 1951 report of a committee headed by then Assam chief minister Gopinath Bordoloi.The report had suggested that about 3,648 square km of the “plain” area of Balipara and Sadiya foothills were transferred from the NEFA (now Arunachal Pradesh) to Lakhimpur and Darrang districts of Assam.However, Arunachal has for long been assertive that the transfer was done without the consultation of its people and the state still held customary rights over these lands.On the other hand, Assam believed that the 1951 notification was constitutional and legal.The dispute came to the fore when Arunachal Pradesh became a Union Territory and till 1974 several efforts were made to demarcate the boundary.Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.