SHILLONG, May 31 � Meghalaya and Assam has decided to sit down for talks, tentatively on Saturday, to resolve the inter-State boundary dispute.
Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma said this evening that he had a telephonic conversation with his Assam counterpart Tarun Gogoi today and both sides have agreed to tentatively meet on Saturday at Guwahati.
�The meeting has been fixed tentatively on Saturday,� Sangma said when asked. The Meghalaya Chief Minister also spoke to Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and informed him about the festering boundary dispute with Assam.
�We want to take recourse to diplomatic and political means to solve the inter-State boundary dispute; so I called up the Union Home Minister today and informed him about the issue,� Sangma said at a Press briefing.
The Chief Minister also informed that the Assam Government which �forcibly occupied� a Sub Health Centre (SHC) at Psiar village in Jaintia Hills, has vacated the centre.
�After receiving the report of the forcible occupation I took up the matter with Gogoi. The Assam Government officials have since vacated the SHC,� he added.
There also have been reports of Assam PWD building roads and bridges in areas of difference between the two States and deployment of additional security forces.
Terming such developments as �unfortunate�, he said it may have negative bearings on the proposed talks. The matter was also raised during his talks with the Assam Chief Minister, Sangma said.
Meanwhile, a conglomerate of NGOs today called off their proposed agitation after meeting the Chief Minister. The NGOs from Jaintia Hills met Sangma to demand the immediate withdrawal of Assam Government officials from the SHC, besides making several other demands to solve the boundary dispute with Assam.
