Guwahati, Feb 7 (PTI) Almost 83,000 hectares of land belonging to Assam are being occupied currently by four neighbouring states, the Assembly was informed on Wednesday.
In a written reply to a query by BJP MLA Bidya Sing Engleng, Border Protection and Development Minister Atul Bora said a total of 82,751.86 hectares of land across 17 districts are under the control of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Mizoram.
The largest amount of such land – 59,490.21 hectares – is being controlled by Nagaland, Bora said.
Meghalaya has 3,441.86 hectares of Assam’s land, the least among the four states, the minister said.
Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram have encroached upon 16,144.01 hectares and 3,675.78 hectares respectively, he added.
The 17 affected districts of Assam are Sonitpur, Biswanath, Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Charaideo, Jorhat, Sivasagar, Golaghat, Goalpara, Cachar, Kamrup, South Salmara-Mankachar, West Karbi Anglong, Hailakandi and Karimganj.
Bora told the House that Assam shares 884.9 km border with Meghalaya, 804.1 km with Arunachal Pradesh, 512.1 km with Nagaland, 204.1 km with Manipur, 164.6 km with Mizoram, 127 km with West Bengal and 46.3 km with Tripura.
Assam and its neighbours have initiated steps to resolve the border disputes.