Fresh encroachment incident along Assam-Mizoram border

An uneasy calm still prevails along the Assam-Mizoram border in Karimganj following a fresh incident of encroachment. This time Assam government officials have disclosed that 347 hectares of land have

An uneasy calm still prevails along the Assam-Mizoram border in Karimganj following a fresh incident of encroachment. This time Assam government officials have disclosed that 347 hectares of land have been encroached by people from other side of the border.

Besides, it has also been learnt that the Mizo Students Union have erected signboards in lands under the boundary of Assam. Earlier on Thursday, a joint committee constituted by Assam and Mizoram under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) began the exercise to identify illegal structures along a disputed stretch of the 164.6 km border between the two states today.

The border area has been tense since March when members of the Mizo Zirlai Pawl, a students’ union attempted to construct a resting shed on a disputed spot it claimed was donated by the widow of Mizoram’s first Chief Minister Ch. Chhunga. Several students and eight Mizoram journalists, including two women, were injured in the resulting stand-off with the Assam Police.

The district administration had informed that identification of illegal structures will be done within the 509 sq mile Inner-Line Reserve Forest straddling the boundary. The MHA had set April 30 as the deadline to identify all illegal structures along the border.

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