Home Minister Amit Shah to visit Meghalaya today, will chair meeting with CMs of North-eastern states

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New Delhi: Union Home minister Amit Shah is set to travel to Meghalaya on Saturday (July 24), for a two-day visit along with a few other Union ministers handling portfolios for the northeastern states. 

Amit Shah will also chair a closed-door meeting with the chief ministers, the chief secretaries, and the police chiefs of all the northeast states to discuss, among other agendas, the interstate boundary issue plaguing these parts, news agency PTI reported.

The northeastern states include Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, and Sikkim. Among these states, Assam has reported boundary conflicts with Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, and Mizoram.

Union home minister Amit Shah will be accompanied by minister of state (MoS), Jitendra Singh, for the ministry of development of the northeastern region, and G Kishan Reddy, minister of culture and development in the northeastern region of India.

HM Shah will also have other official engagements in Meghalaya during his stay.

The home minister will inaugurate the inter-state bus terminus (ISBT) at Mawiong in the outskirts of Shillong and a cryogenic plant at New Shillong Township, according to official sources.

Following the events on Saturday, Union home minister Amit Shah will visit Sohra (erstwhile Cherrapunji) a day later to inaugurate the Greater Sohra water supply scheme and a separate afforestation project. He is also scheduled to pay a visit to the Ramakrishna Mission Ashram there on Sunday.

Meanwhile, security arrangements were tightened in Meghalaya ahead of the Union home minister's visit. 

The government has roped in the paramilitary forces to keep a strict vigil on the events and intensify patrolling in the city, especially in the vicinity of the venue and the roads leading to the ISBT and New Shillong Township. 

A mock drill to facilitate smooth movement of the Union minister's cavalcade from the helipad to the venue was also undertaken since Thursday as part of the security arrangements.