Rio expresses concern over loss of documents on border dispute

Kohima, Sep 11 (UNI) Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio today expressed concern over the loss of important documents delivered to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), which in turn handed them over to the Assam government, which stated that they were ''untraceable''.

Replying to the question of Congress MLA K L Chishi during the Zero Hour of the Assembly, Mr Rio said both the MHA and Assam government were responsible for the documents.

''The Assam government has been unable to trace the maps and it will be difficult for the Nagaland government to stake claim without the documents,'' he said.

He also informed the House that the Supreme Court had issued a directive giving two weeks time to the MHA and the Survey of India (SoI) to recover the documents and said the Nagaland government had decided to wait till the documents were recovered.

Meanwhile, Nagaland Commissioner H K Khulu told newspersons at the Assembly Secretariat that the documents were handed over to the Sundarram Commission, which was appointed in the early 1970s to give suggestions for a permanent solution to the border dispute between Nagaland and Assam.

Later, the Sundarram Commission submitted the documents to the MHA which in turn handed them over to the Assam government, from where it became ''untraceable''.

He also informed that a meeting on the issue will be held between the MHA and Nagaland government in New Delhi on October 13.

The next hearing of the Local Commission, constituted by the open court to give suggestions on the border dispute, will be taken up on November 1.

UNI AS DPM RD SV RK1401