Assam-Arunachal border row: Some villages outside ambit of 12 regional committees

OUR CORRESPONDENT

TINSUKIA: Though people living along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border have hailed Assam Government's decision to resolve vexed boundary disputes in 123 villages between two States by constituting 12 regional committees in consultation with Arunachal Pradesh Government, many villages are left out from the purview of the committee even as these villages were established and areas encroached upon by either side much before 2006.

Two subdivisions- Sadiya and Margherita – in the Tinsukia district share inter-state borders with 5 districts namely Lohit, Lower Dibang Valley, Namsai, Changlang and East Siang districts of Arunachal Pradesh. The Tinsukia regional committee, however, had taken into consideration only Sadiya Revenue Circle and completely excluded Margherita subdivision which has long disputed border with the Changlang district where forest land had been encroached upon by people of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh alike. Some of these villages are Hanjuwara under Lekhapani PS, Green valley in Jairampur (AP) etc.

The Arunachal Pradesh have claimed as many as 11 villages namely Paglam, Keba, Tinali, Bangoo, Kaling-1, Kaling-II, Kangkong,Rukma, Hazu Khuti, Sunpura HQ and Mangkeng Miri (Simanta Tengapani) under Sadiya subdivision to be its territories being encroached by people of Assam. Some of these villages are almost inaccessible from Assam side and due to prolonged neglect by the Assam Government, the Arunachal Government developed better connectivity and other infrastructures to the extent that the AP Government even provided voting rights to these people.

It can be mentioned here that the Assam Government filed a case before the Supreme Court in March 25, 1989 on Assam-Arunachal border dispute. The apex court appointed a local commission on September 25, 2006 while the local committee submitted the report in September 2014 against 123 disputed villages. According to a source, though there are many other villages apart from 123, the regional committees acted exclusively on the directive of Local Commission appointed by the Supreme Court. The fate of other villages may be taken up in phased manner, the source said.

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