Silchar, Nov. 11: Authorities in the neighbouring states of Assam and Mizoram have ruled out the possibility of holding talks to sort out the border tangle along south Assam?s Hailakandi district, triggered by manhandling of traders in the two states.

Hailakandi deputy commissioner P.P. Barua said any such talk at the highest quarter was likely to lead to the maintenance of status quo along the border, which would only benefit the Mizos who had illegally encroached upon large tracts of land in the district.

Barua said a few days ago, he and a few senior officials of the district administration visited the border areas of Hailakandi along Mizoram?s Kolasib district and found Mizo settlements.

They also found a permanent structure, a ?resthouse? for Mizo farmers, erected by people of the neighbouring state within 200 metres of the border in the south Assam district.

The deputy commissioner said the blockade call given by the Katlicherra Young Men?s Association to stall the movement of vehicles across the border in protest against the alleged manhandling of non-Mizo traders in Mizoram had failed to make any impact in the district. Mizos and Reangs had been entering Hailakandi across the border from Mizoram to purchase daily necessities as usual, he said.

Intelligence reports, however, said the sudden downslide in the transportation of essential commodities caused by the three-day block-ade, had resulted in spiralling of prices of some food items in border regions of Mizoram which depend on the supply of these items from Hailakandi.

Sources said a meeting between some senior people of Katlicherra block in Hailakandi and Mizoram a few days ago had failed to end the stalemate.

Bail denied: The court of additional district magistrate (judicial) K.L. Liana on Thursday denied the bail plea of ni-ne Young Mizo Association activists, accused in the Mission Vengthlang incident, reports our Aizawl correspondent.

This is the second time that Liana has denied the bail plea for the nine accused, who are currently undergoing their prison term in the central jail.