Itanagar, Nov 01, 2022, IANS

Itanagar, Nov 1 (IANS): Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu said on Tuesday that the decades old pending issue of Arunachal-Assam inter-state boundary disputes would be resolved once and for all, probably by the end of November.

The Chief Minister chaired a day-long meeting on Monday with a high-level delegation from Assam headed by its Border Protection and Development Minister Atul Bora.

"The meeting with the Assam delegation can be termed as the penultimate one in the series of meetings held between the two states after the historic Namsai declaration," Khandu told the media.

He said: "One more meeting is to be held between me and my Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma for a final agreement and permanent solution. Both of us are determined to resolve all our differences by the end of November."

Khandu informed that following the Namsai declaration, 12 committees were formed headed by cabinet ministers of both the states.

These committees jointly visited the disputed areas, took feedbacks from people of both sides and submitted their reports to their respective state governments.

"We have discussed these reports district-wise in depth. I am happy that all reports are positive in effect and the committees of both the states have sincerely and jointly worked to find a permanent solution to this boundary issue," he said.

He pointed out that "if there is a strong political will", no issue can remain unresolved for decades.

"I have to specially thank Himanta Biswa Sarma for personally stepping out to resolve the boundary row, not only with Arunachal Pradesh but with all other northeastern states that share boundaries with Assam," the Arunachal CM said.