Amit Shah asks NE states to resolve border disputes

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaJanuary 23, 2021

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has asked all the eight north eastern states to amicably resolve the long pending boundary disputes between them.

“There is a need to resolve the disputes of the states. The whole country is one, so we have to aim to find complete solutions to the issues. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi we will resolve the inter-state border disputes in the North-East, and it will be a great achievement. Without this, development is not possible and work should be done in this direction with a strong will,” Shah said while addressing a government function here on Saturday.

He also said “The kind of priority that Modi has given to the North-East, we also have an obligation to make that effort successful.”

The Union Home Minister said that the northeast was previously known for insurgency but today along with peace, good news flows out of the Northeast.

By reaching out to small groups, the state governments have done the work of their disbanding. Recently there was an agreement with the Bodos group and after many years of extremism the Bodos have joined the mainstream.

Shah said that the Bru-Reang Agreement was also very important. The land boundary disputes with Bangladesh were resolved in a very simple manner which would further enhance connectivity in the coming times.

On the other hand, Shah said that the Union Budget has been increased by 24 percent to Rs 3,13,000 crores from Rs 89,000 crores and many big projects have been undertaken.

There should also be an effort to eliminate the entire challenges like border disputes and smuggling of drugs from abroad. The Central Government has changed its perspective of the Northeast, so the Northeast will also have to change its perception of how it looks up to the Center.

Shah said that under the leadership of the Prime Minister, all the states of North-East have successfully fought against Corona, for which 7.75 lakh metric tonnes of food grains were provided to 3 crore beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana.

About 30,000 metric tons of pulses and 50 lakh gas cylinders were distributed free of cost. Under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Yojana, Rs 553 crore have been transferred to the farmers’ account.

Rs. 1,707 crore has been credited to Jan Dhan Yojana account holders as a one-time lump sum so that they can make a livelihood.

Apart from this, Rs. 2,530 crore have been transferred to beneficiaries accounts under different schemes. Shah said that a total credit of Rs. 7,923 crore has been made. The Union Home Minister said that the work of vaccination has started under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and it is expected that soon we will overcome this epidemic.

He said after taking charge as the Prime Minister in 2014, Shri Narendra Modi said that if the North-East is to be developed, then the North-East has to be given priority in all types of development schemes of the government.

The Prime Minister directed that every 15 days, a Central Minister would visit some state in the North-East by turns and Narendra Modi has himself visited the North East more than 40 times and more than 300 visits have been undertaken by various Ministers of the Central Government. This shows how much priority the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given to the North-East.

Later while speaking to reporters, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said there were lots of discussions that took place regarding the development issues and a lot of positive suggestions also came from the union home minister.

He said the Union Home Minister has very clearly stated that when Bangladesh and India can resolve the border issue why the NE states within the Indian boundary cannot resolve the issue.

“He (CM) has urged all the states with a special focus on Assam because most of the states have issues with Assam. He has requested that by August 15, 2022 when the PM gives his speech on the 75^th anniversary of India’s independence that NE states should resolve their boundary issues,” CM said.