Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president and Lok Sabha MP Gaurav Gogoi on Tuesday questioned whether the Assam government had already ceded land to Nagaland even before the Supreme Court delivers its verdict on the decades-old inter-state boundary dispute, PTI reported.
Speaking to reporters after visiting the Assam-Nagaland border at Mariani in Jorhat district, Gogoi criticised both the Assam and Central governments for what he described as their failure to resolve the long-pending border issue.
Alleging that encroachment was taking place on Assam’s land, Gogoi said residents living along the border had informed him that they had been facing aggression from people on the Nagaland side for years.
“But sadly, the role of the Assam and Central governments has been very dissatisfactory,” he said.
Referring to a bridge allegedly constructed by the Nagaland administration in 2020, Gogoi claimed that the structure was built within Assam’s territory. He further alleged that local residents engaged in road-clearing work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) near the bridge about a week ago were prevented from carrying out the work by people from the Nagaland side.
Demanding clarity from the BJP-led Assam government, Gogoi asked whether it had effectively conceded territory to Nagaland even before the boundary dispute was adjudicated by the Supreme Court.
He said the Congress remained committed to protecting the interests of Assam’s people and would extend full cooperation to safeguard the state’s borders.
Assam and Nagaland share a 512.1-km border, with the dispute dating back to the creation of Nagaland in 1963. The matter is currently pending before the Supreme Court.
According to figures earlier presented by the Assam government in the Assembly, 59,490.21 hectares of Assam’s land are under the alleged occupation of Nagaland, the highest claimed encroachment by any neighbouring state. The claim forms part of the ongoing dispute before the apex court.
(With inputs from PTI)
