Mizoram Negates Assam Encroachment in State Territory

Mizoram Home Minister Lalchamlianna on Monday told the state legislature that no encroachment was made by Assam in its state territory.

He said that Mizoram did not lose any land to Assam; rather it occupies some areas which fall in Assam according to the 1933 notification.

“No farmer practicing plantation or farming along the Mizoram-Assam border has faced harvest problem till now,” the minister said.

In a written reply to a question from opposition Congress leader Zodintluanga Ralte, the Minister said, “Assam does not encroach or grab Mizoram’s territory. In fact, some areas occupied by Mizoram now fall under Assam as per the notification issued on 9 March, 1933, which the neighbouring state (Assam) accepts as its constitutional boundary.”

Moreover, he said that measures are being taken by Mizoram to occupy the inner line reserve forest notified under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR) in August 1875.

The 1875 notification is accepted by Mizoram as its actual boundary, he said. Mizoram districts of Aizawl, Kolasib and Mamit share 164.6 km long border with Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj districts of Assam.

The border dispute between the two neighbouring states that stemmed from the two colonial demarcations of 1875 and 1933 has remained unresolved for decades.

Mizoram held that 509 square miles stretch of inner line reserved forest notified in 1875 , a vast area of which now falls under Assam, is the actual boundary of the state. Assam on the other hand claims that the boundary as per survey of India’s map in 1933 is its constitutional boundary.

In the last border talks held in Guwahati in November, 2022 the delegations of Assam and Mizoram had agreed that Mizoram will furnish the list of villages, their areas, geo-spatial extent and ethnicity of the people and other relevant information within three months to support its claim which can be examined by setting up regional committees of the two states to arrive at an amicable solution to the vexed border issues.

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