JORHAT, Aug 3 � Insufficient deployment of security personnel along the disputed Assam-Nagaland border in Sivasagar district has caused a temporary halt to eviction drives in areas under the Geleky reserve forest, allegedly encroached by people from the Nagaland side.
As most police and paramilitary personnel are currently being engaged in area dominance across the district till the Independence Day celebration, the Sivasagar district administration is planning to resume the eviction drives again after August 15. Some new areas have also been identified for the next drive.
�The drives, which have been stopped temporarily, will be restarted after the Independence Day celebration. Forest officials have identified some new areas of encroachment,� said R Ahmed, Border Magistrate in Sivasagar.
According to the district administration, eviction was successfully conducted on 72 bighas of land belonging to the Geleky reserve forest where encroachers planted rubber and tea. However, in alleged reaction against the eviction, several miscreants from Nagaland destroyed around 60 bighas of tea bushes in the Borsila area on the Assam side. Instead of nabbing the miscreants, Nagaland recently deployed some security personnel in the disputed area for preventing border flare-ups.
Expressing concern over the destruction of tea bushes by the miscreants from Nagaland, several local people demanded of the State Government to provide adequate security to their lives and property along the Assam-Nagaland border in Sivasagar.