Insight Bureau: Assam chief minister and his Meghalaya counterpart signed an agreement on Tuesday to end the 50-year-old border dispute between the two northeastern states. The significant move took place in New Delhi in the presence of Union home minister Amit Shah.

Taking to Twitter, Shah called the signing of the interstate boundary settlement a “historic day” for the northeast.

“Today, a 50-year-old pending boundary dispute between Assam and Meghalaya has been resolved. 6 out of 12 points of the dispute has been resolved, which comprises nearly 70% of the boundary. The remaining 6 points will be resolved at the earliest”, Shah was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

On January 31, the chief ministers of Assam and Meghalaya had submitted a draft resolution to Amit Shah for examination and consideration by the Ministry of Home Affairs. The governments of the two states had come up with a draft resolution to resolve their border disputes in six of the 12 “areas of difference” along the 884-kilometre boundary.

Assam will keep 18.51 square kilometres of land, and will give Meghalaya 18.28 square kilometres of land, according to the proposed recommendations for the 36.79 square kilometres of land.