Assam, Arunachal Officials Meet to Strengthen Border Management

In a bid to ease tensions along the Assam–Arunachal boundary, senior officials from both states held a joint meeting at Narayanpur in Assam’s Lakhimpur district on Thursday, adopting a series of measures to improve coordination and maintain peace.

The meeting was attended by officials from Assam’s Lakhimpur and Biswanath districts and Arunachal’s Papum Pare district. Both sides agreed to stop all new construction and encroachment until the final demarcation of the interstate boundary is completed. To ensure smoother communication, the states will appoint nodal officers as official points of contact, while a dedicated WhatsApp group will be created to allow quick information-sharing among district administrations.

Officials further decided to conduct joint patrols twice a month to prevent tensions in sensitive pockets, and to jointly identify vulnerable areas for inspection under government-approved Standard Operating Procedures.

In a gesture aimed at fostering goodwill, the states also announced the launch of “Border Bandhu,” a cultural and sports exchange programme designed to strengthen ties between communities living along the boundary.

The meeting reaffirmed the spirit of the 1979 understanding between the then Chief Ministers P.K. Thungon of Arunachal Pradesh and Golap Borbora of Assam, which emphasized restraint and dialogue in managing border issues. The latest decisions also build on the Namsai Declaration of July 2022, which reduced the number of disputed villages from 123 to 86.

Officials stressed that all activities along the border must comply with legal procedures and remain sensitive to the concerns of local communities. The measures, they said, were a step toward building mutual confidence and paving the way for an eventual resolution of the decades-old boundary dispute.