Amit Shah to inaugurate new Assam Rifles complex in Mizoram on March 31

Union Home Minister Amit Shah will inaugurate the Assam Rifles complex at a new place near here on March 31, a senior state government official said on Friday. Chief Minister Zoramthanga had told reporters last month that Shah will visit the state for the programme on March 17.

"The Union home minister's visit has been rescheduled to March 31. However, the itinerary is yet to be confirmed by the Ministry of Home Affairs," the official told PTI. Shah will inaugurate the Assam Rifles complex at Zokhawsang, about 15 km on the eastern outskirts of Aizawl. The Mizo National Front (MNF) has been demanding the shifting of Assam Rifles headquarters from the heart of Aizawl to Zokhawsang since 1988 after the paramilitary force killed seven civilians in a clash.

The relocation of the camp was among the top promises of the MNF in the last assembly polls held in November 2018. In February 2019, the Union Home Ministry directed the Assam Rifles to shift its battalion headquarters to Zokhawsang by May 31 of that year. However, it was delayed. The country's oldest paramilitary force has two bases in Zodin and Khatla in the heart of the city since 1917.

The one at Zodin is being shifted to Zokhawsang. During a meeting with Amit Shah in November last year, Zoramthanga had informed the Union home minister that the delay in the relocation of the Assam Rifles camp was delaying infrastructural projects in the state capital. An Assam Rifles official, however, said that the force is yet to receive any intimation regarding inauguration of the new complex at Zokhawsang from the Union Home Ministry.

During his visit to the state on March 31, Shah will also lay the foundation stone for the 'Laldenga Centre' in Aizawl, the official of the state home department said. However, the purpose of the 'Laldenga Centre' is still not clear. Laldenga was the founder of the MNF, which was once an underground outfit which spearheaded a cessationist movement between 1966 and 1986. He was the first chief minister of Mizoram after it attained statehood in 1987.