Aizawl: Following Mizoram Home Minister Lalchamliana‘s claim on Friday that at least 62 villages located in the disputed Assam-Mizoram border area fall within Mizoram territory he reiterated his claim on Sunday.
Lalchamliana said that Mizoram’s home department had submitted a demand to the Assam government even in February, claiming the state’s right to the 62 villages, which the Assam government has not yet responded to.
As per reports, for many years Mizoram has been claiming that a 509 square-mile (1,318 square kilometres) area of inner line reserved forest under the 1875 Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR) as its actual boundary. Lalchamliana emphasised this by saying that according to a notification “from the Governor-in-Council in 1875 under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873, around 509 square mile area within the inner line reserved forest was placed under the then Lushai country (Mizoram).”
On the other hand, Assam claims that the boundary, as per the Survey of India’s map of 1933, is the constitutional boundary.Three districts of Mizoram – Aizawl, Kolasib and Mamit – share a 164.6 km long inter-state border with three Assam districts – Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj.
In order to resolve the inter-state border issue, Mizoram and Assam have held 3 rounds of ministerial-level talks as well as virtual meetings.
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Regarding Mizoram’s recent demand to the Assam government, Lalchamliana said that there has been no official response from the Assam government and that there has been no proposal of a date, time or venue for the next round of talks.
The last minister-level talks regarding the inter-state dipute was held at Guwahati in November, 2022, after which in February, Lalchamliana had submitted proposals to the Assam government in February.
Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga and his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma had also held two rounds of talks regarding the ispute in New Delhi during 2021 and 2023.
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