Aizawl, Nov 15 (PTI) The Mizoram delegation headed by state Home minister Lalchamliana would leave for Guwahati on Wednesday for the third minister-level talks with Assam to resolve the inter-state border dispute, a senior home department official said.
Mizoram Home department joint secretary Lalthiamsanga Sailo told PTI that the third round of the minister-level talk would be held at 11 am on Thursday.
Official level talks of both the states would be held around 5 pm on Wednesday a day ahead of the minister-level talk, he said.
Apart from Lalchamliana, Land Revenue and Settlement minister Lalruatkima will also take part in the minister-level talk, another home department official said.
The Mizoram delegation will also include commissioner and secretary of Home Department H Lalengmawia and two other senior officials of the Home department, he said.
The Assam delegation is likely to be headed by border area protection and development minister Atul Bora, highly placed sources said. Mizoram and Assam, which share a 164.6-km-long inter-state boundary, have a long-standing border dispute, which mainly stemmed from two colonial demarcations in 1875 and 1933. While Mizoram claimed that 509 square miles stretch of the inner line reserve forest notified by the British in 1875 as its actual boundary, Assam accepted the map prepared by survey of India in 1933 as its constitutional boundary.
However, there is no ground demarcation of the boundary between the two states, according to officials. After sporadic skirmishes since 2018, the border dispute had taken an ugly turn in July last year when police forces of the two states exchanged fire leading to the death of six policemen and a civilian from Aizawl.
More than 60 people were also injured in the violent clash that took place in the disputed area near Mizoram’s Vairengte village on the National Highway-306.
The violent clash was followed by an economic blockade imposed on the lifeline of Mizoram (NH-306) by locals of Lailapur village in Assam.
The two states began talks from August last year and agreed to resolve the dispute through dialogue besides maintaining peace along the inter-state border. Since then both the delegations have held two rounds of talks and five virtual meetings over the border issue. Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga and his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma have also met twice in New Delhi in November last year and September this year to find an amicable solution to the vexed border dispute. PTI COR RG
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