Asom’s territory

[Pradip Kumar Datta]

Guwahati, Saturday, July 29, 2006 
EDITORIAL 
   
  Asom’s territory
  The disclosure made by Dr Bhumidhar Barman, Revenue Minister, Asom in the State Assembly that Bangladesh and the neighbouring States of Nagaland, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram have encroached into Asom’s territory covering an area of 2,12,705 acres of land in total sent shock-waves not only among opposition members but among the entire people of Asom. Dr Barman giving the break-up of area of encroachment by the neighbouring country and the States stated that Bangladesh encroached 499.83 acres in Karimganj and Dhubri districts, Nagaland encroached 1,62,471 acres, Meghalaya encroached 11659 acres, Arunachal and Mizoram encroached upon 25331 acres and 12744 acres respectively reducing the total area of the State of Asom from 78528 sq km in 1980 to 78438 sq km in 2001. Asom has 532 km of international boundary and 2276 km of inter-State boundaries. The responsibility of protection of international boundary – Indo-Bangladesh and Indo-Bhutan-rests with the Central
 government and the inter-State boundaries is the responsibility of the Government of Asom. Inter-State boundaries are well-defined constitutionally. The Acts of Parliament creating the States of Nagaland, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram from the mother State of Asom laid down well-defined boundaries and there was no scope of ambiguity or misinterpretation in this regard. But some States have disputed the notified boundaries leading even to border clashes resulting in loss of lives and property necessitating the intervention of Central government and deployment of central forces. Two committees were constituted to examine the boundary dispute: (1) Sundaram Committee in 1971 to examine the claims of Nagaland and (2) Justice Chandrachud Committee in 1985 to examine the claims of Meghalaya. Both these high-powered committees after examining detailed historical record rejected the claims of Nagaland and Meghalaya. At present the Apex Court is hearing the boundary
 dispute between Asom and Nagaland.

At the time of independence total area of Asom stood at 2,55,000 sq km which came down to 78528 sq km after the formation of States such as Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Mizoram. Though at the time of creation of these States, the constitutional boundaries were laid down and well-defined, the newly created States started claiming large areas and relentlessly trying to encroach upon Asom area by setting their own people, setting up police outposts, schools, circle offices and even subdivisional headquarters driving out the original settlers. Some of these encroached villages have been included in the electoral rolls of the neighbouring States and polling stations are regularly set-up by the neighbouring States within Asom’s territory to conduct polls for their elections, which is unconstitutional. The Election Commission insisted upon maintaining status-quo and such practices have been going on from election to election. The States of Meghalaya and Arunachal
 Pradesh agreed at one point of time to have joint-survey of boundaries and creation of boundary pillars. But there is always stiff resistance from the locals to such moves and in some cases boundary pillars are uprooted. The States of Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya did not show much enthusiasm for such joint-surveys. The Chief Minister level discussions end up agreeing to maintaining the status-quo and never go deep into finding a solution to the vexed boundary problems. The Central Government, which should have intervened to solve the boundary disputes among the States of the Union, did not evince much interest in the matter and left it to the States concerned to solve it amicably. There seems to be no end to the boundary disputes.

The inter-State border areas are not only not well protected but also continue to be neglected in respect of overall development. The Asom government has a Border Areas Department to look after the inter-State border. However paucity of fund has made this department inactive so far as taking up any integrated scheme of development of the inter-State border is concerned. The Asom government has made budget provision of less than a crore per annum for development of more than 200 km of inter-State border which is barely sufficient to meet the establishment cost of the Border Areas Department whereas the Central government is spending more than seven crores per annum for development of 500 km of international border. The Central government has identified 15 blocks in Asom-Bangladesh border and 10 blocks in Asom-Bhutan border for area specific development. The Administrative Reforms Commission has also recommended for identifying border blocks in the inter-State boundaries and
 take up integrated development of these blocks so that administration in border areas is well-established and villagers in Asom are encouraged to settle in large numbers in the bordering areas making it impossible to grab our land by neighbouring States. While the Revenue Minister has only given details of encroachment, the Minister for Border Areas remained silent about steps taken to protect and develop the border areas. This shows that there is lack of co-ordination between these two departments and development of border areas is the least concern of the State government. Unless the State government provides sufficient fund for development of border areas, the threat of encroachment of vacant land at the border by the neighbouring States would continue. The border areas would benefit if the recommodations made by the Administrative Reforms Commission are implemented earnestly by the Border Areas Department.

 		
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