Thursday, September 10, 2009

Naga encroachment

JORHAT, Sept 10: More than 5,000 All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) activists, along with local people, staged a human chain protest along the Asom-Nagaland border in the Ougurijan area of Bihubar under Nazira subdivision of Sivasagar district at around 11.30 am today.

Decrying the silence of both Dispur and New Delhi over the border dispute between the two neighbouring States, the students’ body launched this protest programme and demanded of the Centre and the State Government to take immediate steps in this regard. The students’ body, along with people living along the border, also warned the Asom Government that the situation might go out of control if the border disputes are not settled permanently soon.

Talking to The Sentinel, AASU’s organizing secretary and Sivasagar district committee advisor Sarat Hazarika said encroachment of Asom land by Nagas is taking place frequently due to the silence being maintained by Dispur. Naga encroachers have occupied Asom land in the Bihubar area near the Assam Police outpost where the police and district administration of Sivasagar are “mute spectators”, he said.

AASU’s Sivasagar district unit general secretary Manik Gogoi said: “The unabated encroachment by Nagas has taken a serious turn these days due to the negligence of both the State and the Central governments over the matter. Naga people have already occupied stone quarries and coal mines situated along the border areas in Asom by taking the advantage of the State Government’s indifference.”

The Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba-Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) has also decided to launch a vigorous agitation across the State against the State Government’s silence over the inter-State border issues. The Parishad called an extended executive meet at Ban Theatre in Tezpur today and discussed the matter.

Speaking to The Sentinel, AJYCP general secretary Manoj Boruah said: “Despite the repeated pleas to the State Government to solve the inter-State disputes, the government has turned a deaf ear. We will start a statewide agitation soon against the government.” He also said the district committees of Sivasagar and Lakhimpur will take out torchlight rallies on September 12 and 14 respectively in the border areas in support their demands. THE SENTINEL

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