Nagaland encroached into Assam territory 28 times in last two years, says Assam minister

Assam border protection and development minsiter Atul Bora today said there have been as many as 28 instances of encroachment into the state's territories from the Nagaland side over the period of last two years. 

Bora gave the details while replying to a query in the assembly today by Leader of Opposition Debabarata Saikia in the ongoing budget session of the Assam Assembly, regarding the number of encroachments that have taken place upon Assam's territory from the Nagaland side in the period of last two years of 2022 and 2023. 

On this, the Assam border development minister said that in Sivasagar district, in the last two years, encroachment had been witnessed thrice at the Ougurijan Grant village in Nazira circle. However it was stated that they were prevented from advancing further and pushed back. 

Further It was stated that in another instance forest officials, police and located authorities visited the site of encroachment and carried out an eviction drive and demolished the illegal structures within Assam's territory on the forest area at Smithpur under Sivasagar district's Geleki police station on December 10, 2023. 

It was also stated by the Assam minister that on July 29, 2023, a group of 40 miscreants from Nagaland's Peren district entered the Herailo village, while falls under the Mahur police station in Dima Hasao district, and demolished some houses there claiming that the area falls within Nagaland. Immediately after the incident, SDPO Maibong and the acting magistrate rushed to the spot and quickly brought the situation under control before things could get out of hand. 

Atul Bora also stated that in the Karbi Anglong district along the interstate border with Nagaland, there have been as many as 21 instances of encroachment into Assam's territory from the Nagaland side in the last two years. However, Bora said that all these encroachments were noted from time to time and steps were taken to rectify them with eviction drives.

Speaking about incidents of encroachment in Jorhat district from the Nagaland side, Bora talked of two instances of encroachment into Assam's territory from the Nagaland side that took place in last two years. 

Both instances took place in the highly disputed Disoi Valley with the first incident taking place on January 1, 2023, where miscreants cut off 97 trees of different varieties in the Compartment No 15 of the protected forest area near Nagajankar. In the next incident which took place on February 10, 2023, an illegal saw mill and a road were constructed at the Compartment No 15 of the reserved forest of Disoi Valley. 

Bora stated that following the setting up of the illegal saw mill within the forest area, magistrates from both sides got together and resolved the matter through dialogues and the saw mill was removed by the Nagaland authorities from the site. 

Replying to another query by the opposition leader, Bora stated that reports of the Nagaland government obstructing the construction of an embankment in the state's Golaghat district close to the interstate border are not true. 

Atul Bora said that the reports of the Nagaland government obstructing the construction of an embankment by the water resource department at Golaghat district's Sorupani village are not true. Emphasising on the matter, Bora said that as per the data provided by the water resource department, no such work has been undertaken by the department in the said area.  

Further replying to a query on whether any obstruction had come to development work undertaken near the border areas, Atul Bora said that obstructions from the Nagaland side were witnessed during the construction of embankments on the rivers Mera and Jiyo. It was stated that the matter was resolved by the involvement of the district magistrates along with the police and central forces posted in the area. Bora further stated that monitoring is being done to ensure no such incident happens ever again.