Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, 27 Jan: The Papum Pare District Border People’s Forum on Friday sought Chief Minister Pema Khandu’s intervention in “resolving the ongoing survey of the interstate boundary with Assam for a permanent resolution by the district’s regional committee.”
It claimed that the Papum Pare district regional committee has accepted its Assam counterpart’s proposal with regard to the boundary demarcation “in toto, without proper consultation and taking the affected villagers opinions into account, resulting in giving away major portions of Arunachal’s land to Assam.”
The forum demanded that the chief minister “appoint and nominate additional member(s) or change of member(s), chairperson of the committee with person(s) of sound background, knowledge and resources on the subject from the district, like Rajya Sabha member Nabam Rebia.”
It also urged the CM to “persuade the regional committee to withdraw the agreed proposals in their meeting of 9 January and accept the proposed maps submitted by the joint verification sub-committees and several other relevant stakeholders of the affected areas, based on the people’s will and aspirations, in tune with the Namsai Declaration and with special reference to the Reports & Recommendations, 2014, of the Local Boundary Commission, 2006, headed by retired justice Tarun Chatterjee.”
The forum suggested to the government to “avoid and exclude the re-exercises carried out against the already agreed and settled case of three villages, and carry out proper verification exercises for the remaining three villages – Gorubandha, Tarajuli and Taramjuli – in Banderdewa circle.”
It also sought “delineation of the entire boundary in straight-line demarcations through the customary boundary road of Rajgarh, instead of the loops, on the spirit of people-to-people mutual accommodations and reciprocations, instead of institutional demarcations of Assam’s forest department’s claims.”
