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Assam-Meghalaya boundary row : Plea for joint survey |
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The Assam government has decided to press its Meghalaya counterpart to conduct a joint survey of the boundary between the two states.
Official sources said the issue of a joint survey of the hills and the reserve forest area along the states’ boundary in Assam’s Cachar district and Meghalaya’s Jowai district would be taken up at a meeting between the Deputy Commissioners of the two districts on March 16.
The dispute between the states began in the eighties after a section of inhabitants of Meghalaya reportedly encroached on the border areas in Cachar and grabbed 4,800 bighas in the district.
Cachar Divisional Forest Officer Ajay Bharali alleged that the Meghalaya forest department had even planted trees on 121 hectares of land in Cachar.
At a conference held between the Deputy Commissioners of the two districts in 1983, both sides agreed to maintain status quo along the boundary of the two states. However, forest officials allege that encroachment from the other side continued even after the conference.
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