Assam and Meghalaya on Sunday decided to form three regional committees each to resolve the boundary disputes between the states in six remaining areas of differences.

A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting between Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Meghalaya counterpart Conrad Sangma in Guwahati. The disputed sites are in three districts of Meghalaya. Both the states had on March 29 signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to resolve the border dispute in six of the 12 areas of differences in the first phase.

They were “less” complicated areas. Sunday’s was the ninth chief minister-level meeting between the two states to resolve the border row.The first meeting was held in Shillong on July 23, 2021, where it was decided to move beyond the “status quo” position to resolve the dispute that started after Meghalaya became a state in 1972.

The three regional panels will be formed within 15 days and will be headed by cabinet ministers of each state along with members from Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council in Assam as three of the disputed sites out of six fall within the jurisdiction of the KAAC, a government statement said.

“The committees will make extensive visits, talk to people living in the areas, build confidence to iron out differences & find out mutually agreeable solutions. I thank Conrad Sangma ji for his keen involvement in talks that led us to resolve our 5-decade-old boundary issue,” Sarma tweeted after the meeting.

Sangma said the second phase of border talks between the two states have commenced to resolve the remaining six areas of differences — Khanduli and Psiar, Block 1 and Block 2, Borduar, Langpih, Nongwah-Mawtamur and Desh Doomreah.

Sangma said both chief ministers would also visit some of the disputed areas as part of confidence-building steps. There has been opposition to the MoU signed in March, involving a disputed area of around 36.79 sq km.

Assam will retain 18.51sqkm while Meghalaya 18.28sqkm of the disputed area. Efforts to settle the boundary disputes gathered momentum after the border flare-up on July 26, 2021, with Mizoram, also carved out of Assam in 1972, that left six Assam policemen dead and over 45 injured.