Assam, Mizoram DCs hold talks to resolve border flare-up over rubber trees amicably

Aizawl, August 20: Deputy Commissioners and police chiefs of Mizoram's Mamit and Assam's Hailakandi districts held a crucial meeting to defuse fresh tensions along the inter-state border following the alleged destruction of a rubber plantation by Assam forest officials.

During the meeting, held at Bairabi near the Assam border on Monday, Mamit deputy commissioner K. Laltlawmlova informed Assam officials that the area, near Saikhawthlir village where the rubber trees were destroyed, falls under Kawrtha forest division and is included in the map prepared by the GIS cell of Mizoram's Environment, Forest and Climate Change department, the statement said.

He said Mamit is located within the reserved forest area and the people of the district have the right to use the reserve forest area, it said.

Hailakandi deputy commissioner Abhishek Jain, on the other hand, said the recent incident faced by rubber tree planters near Saikhawthlir village was not connected with a border issue but a misunderstanding caused by plantation in the reserved forest area.

A statement from the Jain’s office claimed that the area falls within the inner line reserve forest, Gharmura range in Hailakandi district, and is protected under the Reserved Forest Act 1980.

According to Jain, section 2A of the Reserved Forest Act prohibits planting of rubber trees and other plants within the inner line forest area.

He informed Mizoram officials that plantation of rubber trees within 1.5 km radius of Assam territory could be a violation of the reserved forest Act and could draw serious attention of the National Green Tribunal (NGT).

The meeting discussed resolving the issue amicably and agreed to make better arrangements to prevent further incidents in the future, the statement added.

It also decided that the matter be referred to higher authorities.

On August 15, police and forest department officials from Assam allegedly entered Saikhawthlir village area in Mamit district and damaged around 290 rubber plants being cultivated by the villagers.

The incident sparked tensions along the inter-state border. Mizoram officials have been maintaining that the plantation is part of the Chief Minister's Rubber Mission, managed by Mizoram's land resources, soil and water conservation department.

Three Mizoram districts — Aizawl, Kolasib and Mamit — share a 164.6 km long border with Assam's Cachar, Sribhumi and Hailakandi districts.

The decades-old border dispute mainly stemmed from two conflicting colonial-era demarcations — one from 1875 under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR) and another from 1933.

Mizoram claims that 509 square miles of the Inner Line Reserved Forest (ILRF) delineated in 1875 under the BEFR as its legitimate area or boundary. In contrast, Assam asserts the border defined by a 1933 map prepared by the Survey of India in 1933 as its constitutional boundary.

Since August 2021, the two Northeastern states have held four rounds of ministerial-level talks, besides negotiations and virtual meetings at official-level to resolve the decades-old border dispute.

In the last official-level talks held in Guwahati in April, both states agreed to maintain the status quo along the disputed areas and to expedite responses to claims made by Mizoram.

PTI