Assam’s encroachment not on Mizoram territory, Lalchamlianna

Aizawl: Mizoram Home Minister Lalchamlianna on Monday said that Assam has not occupied the territory of Mizoram.

In a written reply to a question by opposition Congress leader Zodintluanga Ralte, the Home Minister said that Mizoram has not lost any land from Assam.
In another written reply, he also said that Assam had not occupied or encroached upon the territory of Mizoram.

“In fact, some areas occupied by Mizoram now come under Assam as per the notification issued on March 9, 1933, which was accepted by the neighboring state as its constitutional boundaries,” said Lalchamlianna.
However, he said the state government was taking steps to ensure that the Inner Line Reserve Forest, notified under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR) in August 1875, was in state possession.
He said that Mizoram had accepted the 1875 notification as its original boundary.

To a question about the farmers, who practice plantations and fields along the Mizoram-Assam border, Lalchamlianna said that so far no farmer has faced any problem in collecting and harvesting their produce. Is.
Three districts of Mizoram – Aizawl, Kolasib and Mamit share a 164.6 km long border with Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj districts of Assam. The border dispute between the two neighboring states, stemming from two colonial demarcations in 1875 and 1933, remained unresolved for decades.
Mizoram maintained that the 509 square miles of reserved forests of the Inner Line notified in 1875, a large area of ​​which now falls under Assam, is the actual boundary of the state.

Assam, on the other hand, claimed that the border was its constitutional boundary as per the 1933 Survey of India map.
The border standoff between Mizoram and Assam turned ugly on July 26, 2021 when the police forces of the two states exchanged fire in which 7 people, including 6 Assam policemen, were killed and around 60 injured.

Subsequently, the two northeastern states began high-level delegation talks in August 2021 to resolve the festering border dispute.

Since then, the two delegations have held 3 rounds of talks and several virtual meetings on the border issue.
In the last border talks held in Guwahati in November last year, the two delegations had decided that Mizoram would list the villages, their areas, geographical boundaries and caste of people and other relevant information within three months to support its claim. will provide Both sides should form regional committees and review them so that they can reach a peaceful solution to the disputed border issues.
Last month, the Mizoram government constituted a study group headed by a senior professor from Mizoram University (MZU) to carry out the task.

Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga and his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma also met twice in New Delhi in November 2021 and September to find an amicable solution to the border dispute.