Assam eviction drive: Four NE states on alert to prevent intruders

Guwahati/Kohima: Several state governments in the Northeast have sounded a high  alert along inter-state borders with Assam, apprehending that displaced people may attempt to  cross into their states following the Assam government’s eviction drive in several districts,  officials said on Saturday.

Assam shares 2616.1 km inter-state borders with six northeastern states – Nagaland (512.1 Km), Arunachal Pradesh (804.1 Km), Manipur (204.1 Km), Mizoram (164.6 Km), Tripura (46.3 Km) and  Meghalaya (884.9 Km) besides 127 Km with West Bengal. This interstate border runs through multiple districts on both sides. The Assam government has recently intensified its eviction operations in some districts, including Dhubri, Goalpara, Lakhimpur, Kampur (Metro) and announced to undertake the eviction drive in Golaghat and southern Assam districts, targeting people allegedly encroaching on government and forest lands.

Thousands of people were evicted in the eviction drive. Nagaland, Manipur, and Meghalaya governments separately issued urgent directives to the District Magistrates/Deputy  Commissioners and Superintendent of Police to take all-out measures to prevent attempts by the displaced people to cross into these states after the Assam government’s eviction drive.

In Tripura, Tipra Motha Party (TMP) supremo Pradyot Bikram Manikya Debbarma has asked the Chief Executive Member of the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) to urgently constitute a monitoring committee across all party lines to detect illegal immigrants who are illegally entering the council areas.

“We should take this matter seriously, as many illegal people from Assam are being evicted and may enter neighbouring states. This committee should work not as political entities but as the protector of our rights,” Debbarma said in a post on X.

The TMP has been governing the politically important TTAADC, which has jurisdiction over two-thirds of Tripura’s 10,491 sq km area, and is home to over 12,16,000 people, of which around 84  per cent are tribals.

A senior official in Kohima said that Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, while reviewing the situation along the Nagaland-Assam inter-state border on Thursday, directed Chief Secretary J.  Alam and Director General of Police (DGP) Rupin Sharma to enhance round-the-clock surveillance  and initiate all preventive and proactive measures to detect and deport any potential influx of illegal immigrants.

He asked the officials to strengthen vigilance mechanisms along the Assam-Nagaland inter-state border. Nagaland Deputy Chief Minister for Home and Border Affairs, Y. Patton, earlier this  week visited vulnerable locations in the Ralan area under Wokha and Niuland districts to assess  the situation following the eviction operations in Assam.

During his visit and in several coordination meetings in the border areas, the Deputy Chief  Minister expressed appreciation for the tireless efforts of the district administration,  police, village chiefs, students, youth organisations, and volunteers in maintaining a vigilant  watch along the borders.

Deputy Commissioner of Niuland reported that over 200 vehicles carrying evicted illegal  immigrants from Assam attempted to enter the district. These attempts were successfully  thwarted, and the individuals were deported by the District Administration, Police, and CRPF at  various checkpoints.

On July 17, during the eviction drive in the Paikan Reserve Forest under the Krishnai Range in  Assam’s Goalpara district turned violent, leaving one person dead and another seriously  injured. Earlier, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma asserted that the administration is determined to free encroached and forest lands in the state. (IANS)

Also Read: Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma visits Uriamghat ahead of upcoming eviction drive

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