A little over a month after a border dispute resolution pact was signed between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, two people died in a flare-up in a disputed area between the two states on Monday.
Boga Chutia and Monitu Gogoi died, while two others — Puspa Gogoi and Akoni Gohain — were injured when they were fired at in the disputed Panbari-Torajan area at the border between Assaam’s Dhemaji district and Arunachal Pradesh’s Lower Siang district. They were residents of the nearby villages of Borbila Chutiakari and Milonpur from Dhemaji district.
Officials from the district administrations and police from both districts rushed to the spot soon after the incident took place on Monday morning.
“There is a disputed patch in the reserve forest in the area, which is claimed by both states. Some people from nearby villages in Assam went there to plant trees this morning. Then there was a flare-up with some people from Arunachal side, which escalated and they were shot. We have received inputs that there were some 20 people from the side which fired. We are trying to identify and apprehend these people. They had run away from the site,” said Dhemaji SP Ranjan Bhuyan.
A senior police officer from the Lower Sing district said that due the unresolved land dispute in the area, flare-ups are common. “The district police are trying to calm down the situation in the area and are coordinating closely with the Dhemaji police,” he said.
On April 20, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Arunachal Pradesh counterpart Pema Khandu signed an MoU over the disputed areas between the two states in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who had referred to the pact as “historic”. The two states share an 800 km border. Of the 123 villages in dispute, an understanding had been reached over 71. The village boundaries of 49 of the remaining villages are unresolved, and the MoU states that in these the Regional Committees would finalise the boundaries within a period of six months “through continuous dialogue”.
Sarma said on Monday that the incident took place along one of these unresolved areas.
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“We have not been able to finalise our boundary in various parts of Dhemaji. Normally the neighbouring state does not attack us, some people there do such acts in their greed for land. The police will investigate and take appropriate action,” he said.
Khandu said the governments of both states are in touch over the incident.
“I have called the MLA and the DC in Lower Siang and told them to go to the spot and speak to the people there. Along with that, I have given directives to the Chief Secretary to be in touch with the DC and SP in Dhemaji… I am going to review the situation and we will speak to the Assam CM as well, and we assure from both the governments’ side that we will not let this flare-up further,” he said.
© The Indian Express (P) Ltd
