[Bengia Ajum]
ITANAGAR, 22 Aug: The Local Development Demand Committee (LDDC) of Durpai village in Lower Siang district has announced that it is opposed to the decision arrived at between the Arunachal Pradesh and the Assam governments with regard to resolving the interstate boundary dispute.
“The people (of the affected villages) are strongly opposed to the looping of the land in respect of Durpai, Champak Chojo and Sogum village of Arunachal Pradesh and Pasoni Camp, Kailaspur, Rasbongsi, Modonpur and Jengrai of Assam,” the committee said.
It claimed that, in an MoU signed on 20 April this year, both the states agreed to looping of the land in these villages.
The MoU was signed to settle the interstate boundary disputes between Assam and Arunachal in respect of 123 villages placed before the local commission by the state government [vide Letter No HMB (B)-69/2006 Vol-I, dated 26 December, 2007].
The committee said it is opposed to the idea to “cluster Durpai, Champak Chojo and Sogum villages in a loop with New Mingmang village, which will be with Arunachal Pradesh.”
“It was agreed by both the chief ministers that Durpai, Champak Chojo and Sogum villages, situated more than 3 kms away from the HPTC boundary inside Assam, are to be clustered in a loop with New Mingmang village. The area encompassed within the loop will be compensated by exchange of uninhabited equal area from Arunachal Pradesh. The area of exchange is to be finalised by the government of Arunachal within six months. We oppose this decision and will not accept the MoU,” said the committee’s general secretary Regi Bui.
He also warned that the villagers will not allow the regional committee to enter the three villages. “We will not part with our land. Our ancestors have lived here since time immemorial. We will be forced to chase away the members of the regional committee if they turn up,” he added.
The LDDC has written to the chief minister, expressing its opposition to the MoU signed between the two states.
“The people of both counterparts states residing at Durpai, Champak Chojo and Sogum village of Arunachal Pradesh and Pasoni Camp, Kailaspur, Rasbongsi, Modonpur and Jengrai of Assam share very good public relation and have harmonious relation with each other. The people of said villages are demanding like Namsai Declaration, ie, as is where is basis. Otherwise, we need an unsolved boundary,” the committee stated in its representation to the CM.
In July 2022, Arunachal and Assam signed the Namsai Declaration with the aim of resolving the boundary disputes between the two states. The declaration was signed after the chief ministers of both the states – Pema Khandu and Himanta Biswa Sarma – held a crucial meeting with the cabinet ministers of the two states in Namsai to “restrict or minimise the boundary disputes between the two states in respect of 123 villages placed before the local commission by Arunachal in 2007,” the declaration read.
