Dharmendra Pradhan seeks all-party meeting on Odisha's border disputes

Bhubaneswar: Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has requested Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to convene an all party-meeting over the border disputes with neighbouring states.

In a letter to the Chief Minister, Pradhan also urged him to seek the support of the Central government in mediating a resolution for boundary disputes. The letter was released to media on Thursday.

Dharmendra wrote the letter with reference to the recent border tension between Odisha and Andhra Pradesh at Sunabeda village in Pottangi block of Koraput district. He said that 14 of the state's 30 districts share borders with Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Jharkhand.

"Odisha has a long history of border disputes with all these neighbouring states owing to historical, cartographic and geological reasons," said the minister.

He suggested to form a House Committee in the Odisha Legislative Assembly comprising members of different parties for undertaking a detailed study of these issues and presenting their findings along with their recommendations.

The minister said that Odisha should take the lead in initiating discussions to resolve the border disputes.

"However, it must be ensured that socio-economic interest of the people of Odisha is not compromised in any way and if necessary, the state should also consider legal remedies for resolution of these disputes," he added.