Mizoram, Assam officials hold talks to resolve border dispute

Aizawl, Aug 19 (PTI) Deputy commissioners and police chiefs of Mizoram’s Mamit and Assam’s Hailakandi districts held a crucial meeting to defuse fresh tensions along the inter-state border following the alleged destruction of a rubber plantation by Assam forest officials, an official statement said Tuesday.

On August 15, police and forest department officials from Assam reportedly entered Saikhawthlir village area in Mamit district and damaged around 290 rubber plants being cultivated by the villagers.

The incident has sparked tensions along the inter-state border.

Officials said the plantation is part of the Chief Minister's Rubber Mission, managed by Mizoram's land resources, soil and water conservation department.

During a meeting held at Bairabi near the Assam border on Monday, Mamit deputy commissioner K. Laltlawmlova informed Assam officials that the area near Saikhawthlir village where the rubber trees were destroyed falls under Kawrtha forest division and is included in the map prepared by the GIS cell of Mizoram's Environment, Forest and Climate Change department, the statement said.

He said Mamit is located within the reserved forest area and the people of the district have the right to use the reserve forest area, it said.

Hailakandi deputy commissioner Abhishek Jain, on the other hand, said the recent incident faced by rubber tree planters near Saikhawthlir village was not connected with a border issue but a misunderstanding caused by plantation in the reserved forest area, the statement said.

He claimed that the area falls within the inner line reserve forest, Gharmura range in Hailakandi district, and is protected under the Reserved Forest Act 1980.

According to Jain, section 2A of the Reserved Forest Act prohibits planting of rubber trees and other plants within the inner line forest area.

He informed Mizoram officials that plantation of rubber trees within 1.5 km radius of Assam territory could be a violation of the reserved forest Act and could draw serious attention of the National Green Tribunal (NGT).

The meeting discussed resolving the issue amicably and agreed to make better arrangements to prevent further incidents in the future, the statement added.

It also decided that the matter be referred to higher authorities.

Three Mizoram districts — Aizawl, Kolasib and Mamit — share a 164.6 km long border with Assam's Cachar, Sribhumi (formerly Karimganj) and Hailakandi districts.

The decades-old border dispute mainly stemmed from two conflicting colonial-era demarcations — one from 1875 under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR) and another from 1933.

Mizoram claims that 509 square miles of the Inner Line Reserved Forest (ILRF) delineated in 1875 under the BEFR as its legitimate area or boundary.

In contrast, Assam asserts the border defined by a 1933 map prepared by the Survey of India in 1933 as its constitutional boundary.

As a result, both states lay claim to overlapping areas, with no ground demarcation conducted till date.

The dispute escalated into violence on several occasions and a clash between police forces of both states near Mizoram's Vairengte village on July 26, 2021 resulted in seven fatalities and numerous injuries.

Since August 2021, the two Northeastern states have held four rounds of ministerial-level talks, besides negotiations and virtual meetings at official-level to resolve the decades-old border dispute.

In the last official-level talks held in Guwahati in April, both states agreed to maintain the status quo along the disputed areas and to expedite responses to claims made by Mizoram. PTI CORR MNB