A violent clash took place between the police forces of Assam and Mizoram on July 26. (File)
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma today said that the state has set up 20 new police outposts along the border with Mizoram and recovered at least 200 hectares of land allegedly encroached by the neighboring state.
Mr Sarma made the statement at the Assembly after the Speaker asked him about the border status.
Six Assam police personnel were killed in a violent clash between the police forces of Assam and Mizoram on July 26 over the border dispute between the two states following a fresh escalation of tension.
"We have set up four outposts eyeball to eyeball to Mizoram at the two LP schools where bombs were blasted by Mizo miscreants last year. We have put a total of 20 outposts along the border. We have also constructed roads within the Assam side along the reserve forest," Mr Sarma told the Assembly.
The three districts in Barak Valley in southern Assam -- Hailakandi, Karimganj and Cachar -- share a 165-km-long border with Mizoram at Mamit, Kolasib and Aizawl districts with border disputes going on at five points at least.
"We have managed to lift encroachment and have reclaimed at least 200 hectares of land in Hailakandi district. Though the dispute had been going on for quite sometime, it branched off after the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic when the Mizoram government had set up testing centres at certain disputed areas along the borders that were later strengthened with police deployment and became a police outpost," Mr Sarma said.
The most disputed area along the border, however, is a stretch on the Inner Line Reserve Forest near the check gate through which National Highway 306, Mizoram's lifeline, passes via Lailapur in Cachar district of Assam and Vairengte in Kolasib district of Mizoram -- the areas which have seen several incidents of violence since October last year.
"After October violence, the disputed area was handed over to CRPF as neutral forces. But, we saw that Mizoram was constructing a road in Assam's side of the reserve forest that would run into Assam through the Range Gaon and a post to oversee the works were built. When we went there to talk, taking advantage of the higher grounds they fired at our police," Mr Sarma told the Assembly.
After the intervention of the centre, that stretch has also been handed over to Central Reserve Police Force, Mr Sarma said. He said the Gauhati High Court had sent notices to both the states and sought evidences collected by both sides to be submitted in the court.
On the economic blockade by locals in Assam, Mr Sarma said: "We cannot destroy the spirit of northeast. We have convinced the people to lift the economic blockade."
He said the border dispute is over the difference between the historic interpretation of the border by Mizoram and India's constitutional recognition of the border by Assam.
Earlier this week, the Assam Chief Minister underlined that peace and tranquility have been restored at the border with Mizoram and said there cannot be an overnight resolution of the decades-old border dispute between the states as it is a very complex issue.