Scuffle Breaks Out at Assam-Arunachal Border Following Attempt to Divide Land

Situation along the Assam and Arunachal Pradesh border turned volatile after a verbal argument erupted between residents of Kolapothar area in Tinsukia.

As per sources, on Thursday evening, a team of administrative officials from Arunachal Pradesh reached Kolapothar area and attempted to divide the land between the two states.

This led to outrage among the local residents. The locals of Kolapothar engaged in a verbal spat with the Arunachal administration.

Lately, officials from the Tinsukia administration reached the spot and managed to control the situation.

Notably, Kolapothar is an area at the borders where people have been residing for the last 40 years as residents of Assam.

After Thursday’s incident, the people stated that they would give away their land to Arunachal if the borders of the area are officially demarcated by the government. The people also said that if borders are not demarcated by the government, the scuffle between people residing in these areas would continue.

In a bid to settle the ongoing border issue between the two states, officials of both states have been holding crucial talks since a long time.

In January this year, an important meeting of the regional committees of the two states was held in Guwahati. As an outcome of the meeting, the regional committees finalized the report to be sent to the Centre. Discussions were made on 57 disputed villages in the bordering areas.

Speaking after the meeting, Jayanta Mallabaruah claimed that the negotiations were 95 percent successful and that they could finalize the proposal to be submitted to chief ministers of both the states.

It may be mentioned that the two states share an 804.1 km-long border. The grievance of Arunachal Pradesh which was made a union territory in 1972 is that several forested tracts in the plains that had traditionally belonged to hill tribal chiefs and communities were unilaterally transferred to Assam.

Also Read: Assam-Arunachal Border Row: Regional Committees to Submit Report to Centre