Assam, Arunachal CMs agree to border realignment based on 1960 papers.

• The boundary line shown on 29 topo-¬sheets by a high¬ powered committee in 1960 will be taken as the basis for the realignment of the Arunachal Pradesh¬ Assam boundary towards resolving decades of dispute. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Arunachal Pradesh counterpart Pema Khandu signed the Namsai Declaration for minimising the interstate boundary dispute involving 123 villages.

List of villages

• A list of these villages had been placed before a local commission by Arunachal Pradesh on December 26, 2007. Namsai is the headquarters of Namsai district in southern Arunachal Pradesh.
• According to the Declration,the boundary line delineated and signed on 29 toposheets by the High-Powered Tripartite Committee as notified boundary in 1960 would be taken as the basis for the realignment of boundary by both the States.
• Present¬day Arunachal Pradesh, which attained Statehood in February 1987, used to be the North East Frontier Tract, administered by the Governor of Assam as an agent of the President of India.
• It was renamed North East Frontier Agency and brought under the Central government’s control in 1954.
• According to the declaration, all border issues between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh will be confined to those raised before the local commission in 2007.

12 committees

• Following the model for resolving the Assam¬ Meghalaya boundary dispute, both the States decided to constitute 12 regional committees each covering the districts on either side of the boundary for joint verification of the 123 villages.
• These committees will make recommendations to the respective State government keeping in view the historical perspective, administrative convenience, contiguity and people’s will, to delineate the interstate boundary.