GUWAHATI, July 4: In a landmark step toward ending a decades-old boundary dispute, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday announced the erection of the first boundary pillar along the Assam-Meghalaya interstate border — a key milestone in implementing the 2022 agreement signed to resolve six of the twelve disputed areas.
Describing the development as the beginning of “on-ground execution” of the historic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in 2022, Sarma said the pillars would serve as “pillars of clarity and peace,” bringing governance and stability to previously ambiguous zones.
“When Meghalaya was carved out of Assam in 1972, a significant portion of the boundary remained undefined, which often led to confusion and friction. Fifty years later, we are finally giving shape to a shared understanding,” Sarma wrote on social media platform X (formerly Twitter).
The Chief Minister, however, did not disclose the exact location of the erected pillar. He noted that the initiative would allow both state administrations to clearly identify jurisdictional limits, thus ensuring effective governance in previously disputed “grey areas.” Sarma also tagged his Meghalaya counterpart, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, in the announcement.
The two chief ministers had previously held a joint press conference on June 2, during which they announced plans to install boundary pillars in five of the resolved areas by Independence Day. They acknowledged that one area—Pilingkata—remains unresolved due to differences in interpretation and would require further talks between district officials of both states.
The Assam-Meghalaya border dispute involves 12 areas spread over 884.9 km. The March 2022 MoU marked a major breakthrough in efforts to settle the issue, with both states agreeing to divide 36.79 sq km of disputed land in the first phase—18.46 sq km to Assam and 18.33 sq km to Meghalaya.
Sarma emphasized that discussions on the remaining six disputed areas will continue, although no specific timeline has been announced for their resolution.
