JORHAT, Nov 15 - A team of student leaders led by newly-elected president and general secretary of Jorhat district unit of AASU Bijoy Shankar Bordoloi and Dip Dutta respectively on Sunday visited areas along the Assam-Nagaland border under Mariani Range of Jorhat Forest Division where tension has flared up since last week following construction of a hut-like structure reportedly by the Mokokchung administration of Nagaland and stationing of armed policemen thereafter.
The team also comprised of office-bearers of ATTSA and Asom Sena.
It may be mentioned here that following construction of a hut-like structure within the Dissoi Valley Reserve Forest area reportedly by the Nagaland administration after a Jorhat district administration team on November 9 demolished a temporary bamboo structure said to be put up by their Nagaland counterpart, triggered a rise in tension along the inter-state border.
Responding to the situation, the Assam Police too on November 11 put up a temporary camp near the spot where Nagaland policemen were camping in order to prevent any further encroachment by the Nagaland side.
Bijoy Shankar Bordoloi stated that the team of the students� body walked up a long distance to reach the spot and took stock of the prevailing situation. Bordoloi said that their team interacted with policemen deployed at the camp and boosted their morale.
�The Assam Police personnel stationed at the site were guarding the border round the clock under very tough conditions with the area having a rough terrain and hence they needed to be encouraged,� Bordoloi observed.
The Jorhat district AASU president said that the administration should ensure that the policemen at the inter-state border always had sufficient foodstock.
Bordoloi flayed the State Government, especially targetting Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, who holds the Home portfolio, for �failing� to protect Assam�s land along the inter-state boundary and also for �not being able to provide protection� to lives and property of people residing along the Assam-Nagaland border, who time and again were at the receiving end of encroachers from Nagaland.
He alleged that the Nagaland government while taking advantage of the lockdown since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic carried out encroachment on Assam territory by erecting bridge, expanding electricity supply in encroached areas as the Assam Government turned a blind eye.
Demanding a strong response from the Assam Government in order to prevent encroachment activities by the Nagaland side which was happening since the past several decades, Dip Dutta, Jorhat district unit general secretary of AASU, threatened to resort to a vigorous stir which would include imposing an economic blockade against Nagaland.
Meanwhile, the stalemate continued at the inter-state border site in the Dissoi Valley Reserve Forest with policemen of both states camping nearby and being on high alert.
It may be mentioned here that several rounds of talks between officials of Jorhat and Mokokchung districts at the spot during the past few days has not yielded results so far as the Nagaland side reportedly was not agreeing to vacate the area.
With senior Jorhat district and police officials visiting the site several times and keeping a close watch on the situation, higher authorities in Dispur were briefed about the situation constantly, an official disclosed.
It may be mentioned here that Jorhat district shares a 101-km boundary with Mokokchung and there were 14 border outposts of Assam Police in Jorhat district and two more were sanctioned by Dispur a few years ago after reviewing the inter-State border security requirements. However, the two proposed BoPs - at Hoolungurie and Mogroi - are yet to be constructed.
It may be mentioned here that in September this year a Chief Secretary-level meeting was held at Dimapur to discuss about the decades-old border row between Assam and Nagaland. Top police brass of both states attended the talks.
The Assam-Nagaland boundary impasse that has been going on since the past several decades, off and on has led to rising of tension along the border areas after incidents of alleged enroachment from the Nagaland side occurred, sometimes resulting in bloodshed.
