AIZAWL: The third round of border talks between Mizoram and Assam will be held in Guwahati on November 17, barely two weeks later than the previous schedule, a senior home department official said on Friday.
Mizoram additional home secretary Lalhriatpuia said that the delegations of both states would meet in Guwahati on November 17 to resolve the long standing inter-state boundary dispute.
He said that the Mizoram delegation will be headed by home minister Lalchamliana and land revenue and settlement minister Lalruatkima will also be part of the delegation, he said.
The delegation will also include Mizoram home commissioner and secretary H Lalengmawia and two senior home officials, he said.
The third round of border talks between Mizoram and Assam was originally scheduled on November 4 but could not be held due to the visit of President Droupadi Murmu to Mizoram.
Following this the Mizoram government had requested the Assam government to defer the talks to November 9-11.
However, the Assam government has recently proposed November 17 as the date for the third round of border talks with Mizoram government.
A home official said that the Mizoram delegation will leave for Guwahati on November 16 and there will be a preparatory meeting between officials of both states on the day.
The actual border talks would take place on the next day, he said.
Mizoram and Assam, that share a 164.6-km-long inter-state boundary, have a long-standing border dispute.
While Mizoram claimed that the 509 square miles stretch of the inner line reserve forest notified by the British in 1875 as its actual boundary, Assam said that the map prepared by survey of India in 1933 as its constitutional boundary.
However, there is no ground demarcation between the two states.
Earlier, a home official had said that the upcoming talks are the actual border talks, in which ground demarcation of the boundary will be one of the main subjects.
The border standoff between the two neighbouring states has surfaced roughly from 1997 and skirmishes and clashes between residents of two states became frequent since 2018.
More than 60 people were injured in a clash between Mizo students and Assam police when Mizoram’s apex student body Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP) attempted to construct a wooden resting shed at Zophai area near Bairabi town in Kolasib district contiguous to Assam’s Hailakandi district in March 2018.
The border dispute had taken an ugly turn in July last year when police forces of the two states exchanged fire at the inter-state boundary, leading to the death of six policemen and a civilian from Assam.
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.
Commencing from August last year, the two states have held two rounds of talks and virtual meetings on five occasions.
They have agreed to maintain peace along the inter-state boundary and resolve the dispute through dialogues.
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.