Today in Guwahati, Meghalaya, and Assam will conduct their second Chief Ministerial level meeting on the inter-state border issue.

At noon, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma will visit the Assam team led by Chief Minister Himnata Biswa Sarma, who will be joined by Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong and several members of his cabinet ministers, as well as key government officials.

The two states’ meeting today is crucial in light of recent border skirmishes at Iongkhuli hamlet, where Assam police removed electric poles built by Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited. Assam asserted that the region is under its jurisdiction.

The first round of Chief Ministerial-level negotiations between the two states took place on July 23 in Shillong, during which both governments committed to addressing the long-standing border dispute “beyond status quo to the solution.”

The Meghalaya administration created a state-level committee on the matter immediately following the first round of Chief Ministerial meetings, led by Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong.

Meghalaya and Assam have border disputes in 12 areas.

The meeting comes a day after Assam and Mizoram held their first round of talks at Aizawl to de-escalate the tensions after the July 26th border clashes in which six Assam policemen were killed. Around 45 people, including 10 from Mizoram, were also injured in clashes that erupted in border areas of the two states last month over an old boundary dispute.

Last week in another significant development, both Nagaland and Assam agreed to withdraw forces from disputed border sites and resolve the issue by means of dialogue.

The Centre has already stated that solving long-pending inter-state border disputes in Northeast India is top on its agenda and for this satellite imagery will also be used.