Kohima, March 12 Concerns about the prevailing situation in the disputed area along the Assam-Nagaland border dominated discussions in the Nagaland Assembly on Thursday, with legislators highlighting security issues, alleged encroachments, and administrative challenges faced by residents in the border areas.
Raising the issue during Question Hour, Naga People's Front MLA Achumbemo Kikon said that Nagaland's border areas remained vulnerable, particularly the Ralan sector, which falls under his constituency and shares approximately 105 km of border with Assam.
He told the House that frequent tensions and skirmishes between residents of the two states occur along the border, requiring local representatives to spend considerable time addressing such conflicts.
The MLA further referred to the 1972 interim agreement between the two states, under which Nagaland had withdrawn its police outposts from the disputed belt.
However, he alleged that instead of reducing its presence, Assam had increased the number of police establishments along the border.
Responding to the issue, Deputy Chief Minister in charge of Home and Border Affairs Yanthungo Patton said that before the 1972 agreement, Nagaland had five police outposts in the disputed areas while Assam had 13.
After the agreement, Nagaland withdrew its five outposts, but Assam did not remove its establishments and has since increased them, he claimed.
He stated that currently, Assam has 63 permanent police outposts along the disputed area belt (DAB).
Kikon also raised concerns over the role of neutral forces deployed in the disputed areas, alleging that they were not maintaining neutrality in certain situations and that local residents had faced difficulties in carrying out economic activities in the border region.
The MLA cited incidents where infrastructure and business activities undertaken by local residents, including a petrol pump established by Naga entrepreneurs in the Ralan sector, allegedly faced obstruction.
Kikon urged the government to take the matter seriously and ensure a stronger administrative presence in the border areas to protect the interests of Nagaland's citizens living in the DAB region.
Replying to Kikon on the current status of the Tchunjanphen police outpost and the Lio–Longchum/Longayim police outpost located in the border belt, Patton informed the House that a temporary police outpost has been set up at Tchunjanphen, where one company of the Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) has been deployed.
Minister for Parliamentary Affairs KG Kenye acknowledged that the Assam-Nagaland boundary issue has remained unresolved for decades despite successive governments attempting to address it.
He said the state government is aware of the difficulties faced by residents in the border areas, particularly regarding access to basic services such as electricity. He assured that the government would continue exploring ways to extend power supply to affected villages despite logistical and right-of-way challenges.
Minister for Public Health Engineering Department Jacob Zhimomi also stressed the need to address mapping and jurisdiction issues affecting border development programmes.
He pointed out that in several instances, government projects implemented in the DAB areas face difficulties at the central level because geo-tagging and official maps sometimes depict those locations as falling within Assam.
Zhimomi suggested that the state government should take up the matter with authorities such as the Survey of India to ensure that the geographical mapping of Nagaland's territory is accurately reflected, especially for the smooth implementation of central flagship programmes in border areas.