Boundary commissions did not consult affected people, say villagers

Staff Reporter

ITANAGAR, 20 Jan: The people of Lora, Bello and Buka villages in Kakoi circle of Papum Pare district have accused the interstate boundary commissions of carrying out joint verification along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh boundary without keeping the affected people in the loop.

The affected people, under the aegis of the Lora, Bello and Buka Boundary Committee (LBBBC), vociferously opposed the “looping of plot system” allegedly adopted by the joint verification team of both Assam and Arunachal.

In a press conference held here on Friday, LBBBC chairman Nabam Akin Hina claimed that the joint verification team of Assam and Arunachal “is working against the principle of Namsai Declaration over boundary settlement.”

Under the Namsai Declaration, the chief ministers of the two states agreed to resolve the vexed boundary issue, keeping in mind the sentiment of the people living along the boundary.

Hina claimed that, on 17 January, the joint verification team of Assam and Arunachal came for verification to Kakoi circle.

“Neither the Assam officials showed their proposed map, nor Arunachal’s officials had the minutes. If they want to settle the boundary issue, they must involve and listen to the affected people,” Hina said.

He added that “the villagers and the affected people of Lora, Bello and Buka villages are in apprehension that the verification team of both Assam and Arunachal are adopting looping system.”

“Unaware of the agreements of the regional committees, the villagers of Lora-I and -II, Bello-I and -II and Buka-I and -II requested the officers to disclose the contents of the agreed minutes of the meetings and the proposed final interstate maps with their copies. However, the officers expressed inability to disclose and provide the same,” Hina said.

He added that, “without knowing the contents of the agreements and the proposed map, the villagers and members of this committee are in apprehension of the deceptive 1951 Bordoloi Commission report and the same consequences.”

“We appeal for disclosure of the copies of the minutes of the meeting of the regional committees with the proposed maps before exercising ground verification and activities of geospatial mappings are started,” Hina said.

The LBBBC reiterated that it would oppose it tooth and nail “if the agreed maps are of the loop of plots restricting us within our houses and kitchen gardens, instead of the straight lines methods as proposed by us.”

“We demand demarcation via the Rajgarh road between Buka-I and -II, Bello-I and -II and Lora-I and -II, which are way within much less than the 3-km buffer areas as proposed in the local boundary commission, 2006,” it said.