‘Over 800 sq km of Assam’s land encroached upon by four states’

GUWAHATI: The Assam government on Wednesday said in the assembly that over 800 sq km of the state’s land has been encroached upon by Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Mizoram.
Assam has been embroiled in border disputes with the four neighbouring states, often leading to violence and deaths of civilians and police and forest personnel, for several decades now.

In a reply in the assembly, Assam border development minister Atul Bora said five border dispute-related incidents have taken place on Assam’s soil since January 2021. These include the killings of six Assam Police personnel at Lailapur in Cachar district bordering Mizoram.
The other incidents of arson and destruction of forests occurred along the Assam-Meghalaya border in Karbi Anglong district, along the Assam-Nagaland border in Sivasagar district and along Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border at Sadiya and Biswanath, Bora said.
The minister stated that there are 103 border outposts of Assam Police in the interstate boundary areas at present. “In addition to these, fifty new outposts will be built by the Assam government in different border areas of the state,” Bora said.
Bora further said at the behest of the Union home ministry, the Assam government is in the process of resolving the border disputes with Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya through mutual understanding and has also formed regional committees in this regard.
“Accordingly, Assam and Meghalaya have signed an MoU resolving six of the 12 disputed points. The two states have formed regional committees to settle the disputes in the remaining six areas. Based on petitions from four persons of Meghalaya, the Meghalaya high court has put a temporary stay on the survey work in the six resolved areas,” he added.