Over 150 people have been killed along the Assam-Nagaland border due to border clash between the two neighbouring States in the past 40 years.
Assam Forest Minister Rockybul Hussain informed this to the House during the ongoing Budget Session while replying to a question by an Opposition legislator and said that a total of 36,013.48 hectares of State’s land had been encroached by Nagaland in Golaghat district alone, which witnessed severe violence earlier this month leading to death of 11 persons and injury of 14 others on the Assam side of the border.
“A total of 157 people of Assam have died and 166 others have been injured during incidents of violence between the two States in the last 40 years,” Hussain said while replying the question on behalf of the Border Area Development Minister.
Hussain said while the causality is high on Assam side, only two Naga persons have died due to the violence so far during the four decades of disturbances along the border.
Created in a district in 1866, the Naga Hills was part of undivided Assam till 1957. But disputes started over territory soon after the Nagaland attained statehood in 1963. There had been many instances of encroachment on each other lands in the past resulting in death of several civilians over the last several decades.
It may be mentioned here that Assam and Nagaland share a total of 512.1 kms of border, which fall in Jorhat, Sivsagar, Golaghat, Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao districts of Assam. The entire stretch of border is divided into six sectors —A, B, C, D, E and F.
According to statistics, the Assam-Nagaland border in Golaghat district had always remained the key points of dispute since beginning of the problem and the district had witnessed 131 deaths in nine clashes between 1977 to 2014.
“The Sivsagar district, which also borders Nagaland has witnessed 96 incidents of violence between the two States leading to 19 deaths,” Hussain informed. The list of the deceased includes 31 Assam police personnel and three CRPF personnel, Hussain told the House.
