Mizoram, Assam hold talks on inter-state boundary dispute after 20 months

The dispute mainly stemmed from two colonial demarcations – 1875 and 1933. Three Mizoram districts - Aizawl, Kolasib and Mamit - share a 164.6 km border with Assam's Cachar, Karmganj and Hailankandi districts.

Aizawl: Mizoram and Assam discussed the border issues on Friday, twenty months after the two northeastern neighbours held a meeting to find an amicable solution to the inter-state boundary dispute, an official said.

The meeting between delegations of both states is being held in Aizawl. The two states held the last round of talks in November 2022 in Guwahati.

During Friday's meeting, the Assam delegation is led by Border Protection and Development Minister Atul Bora while the Mizoram side is headed by Home Minister K Sapdanga, the official said.

This is the fourth ministerial-level talks between the two neighbouring states since August 2021 and the first meeting after the Zoram People's Movement (ZPM) came to power in December last year.

Three Mizoram districts - Aizawl, Kolasib and Mamit - share a 164.6 km border with Assam's Cachar, Karmganj and Hailankandi districts.

The dispute mainly stemmed from two colonial demarcations – 1875 and 1933.

Mizoram claims that 509 square miles area of the inner line reserved forest, notified in 1875 under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR) 1873, falls within its territory. Assam, on the other hand, regarded the map prepared by the Survey of India in 1933 as its constitutional boundary.

Vast areas within the inner line reserved forest now fall under Assam.

Similarly, a certain extent of the area, as per the 1933 demarcation line, is now on the Mizoram side.

There is no ground demarcation of boundaries between the two states.