India and Myanmar agree to plug border holes

Aizawl, Dec 11: India and Myanmar have decided to jointly inspect the international border pillars across Northeast and reconstruct those that are missing or damaged.

Official sources from the armed forces here said the agreement to begin a joint survey from January, 2007, was already arrived at during a two-day meeting of representatives of the two neighbouring countries.

The Indian delegation was led by R N Nahak, director of the Survey of India, and the Myanmarese side was represented by U Kyaw Swe, head of the Myanmar survey department.

The sources said the officials from both sides would meet again on January 5. The actual inspection and reconstruction of pillars will begin on January 7.

Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh share a combined 1643-km border with their military-ruled Myanmar and many of the border pillars have reportedly been displaced or destroyed.

The sources said the work programme for carrying out the inspection of the pillars in 2006-07, the main agenda at the meet, was finalised.

The meeting also reportedly agreed on marking the zero line for the proposed border fencing by India on a stretch between border pillars 79 and 91, which will come up on the Indian side beyond the 10-metre no-construction zone, the sources added.

Officials from both the countries decided to discuss about the 'unsettled' boundary pillars and the revision of digital graphic on the international boundary strip at the next meeting.

UNI

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