Tension along border after eviction of 'encroachers'

Guwahati, May 11 (UNI) Tension ran high along the E Sector of Asom-Nagaland border after Asom forest and police officials carried out an eviction drive in the Dessoi Valley Reserve Forest.

A forest official said around 14 hovels erected by 'encroachers' in the disputed Reserve Forest were evicted yesterday.

Even though the 'encroachers', all hailing from Nagaland, protested the Asom Forest department's move, the Aosandam Basti area, around 25 km from Jorhat in upper Asom, was cleared by the officials.

Forest officials said there were more huts in the area, but those could not be evicted due to security reasons.

The inter-state boundary has been a bone of contention between the two northeastern states ever since Nagaland was carved out.

While Asom claims that Nagaland has encroached around 1.6 lakh hectares of its territory, the latter says the tracts belong to them 'traditionally and historically'.

'Unification of all Naga dominated areas', which includes parts of Asom and Arunachal Pradesh, is among the major demands of the insurgent outfit NSCN(IM), which is currently under ceasefire and holding talks with the Centre.

The Asom Government had filed a petition at the Supreme Court seeking a solution to the decades-old boundary dispute.

A committee appointed by the Supreme Court to resolve the vexed dispute recently conducted hearings at Guwahati and Kohima.

UNI