Jorhat, April 25: Tension prevailed along the Assam-Nagaland border here with armed villagers from Assam all set to dismantle a few houses constructed by villagers from the other side of the border at Tiru Hills reserve forest.
Nagaland villagers constructed the houses a few days ago and when a police team from Assam went there yesterday after a complaint by the Assam villagers, goons from Nagaland allegedly fired in the air to drive them away.
The development comes a few days after Congress MLA from Mariani, Rupjyoti Kurmi, along with residents of several villages along the Assam-Nagaland border, petitioned the Supreme Court, urging it to expedite the Assam-Nagaland border dispute case.
The case has been pending in the Supreme Court since 1988 after the Assam government moved the apex court seeking a permanent solution.
Several commissions appointed by the Centre earlier had failed to solve the decade-old row that existed after Nagaland was carved out of Assam on December 1, 1963.
A high-level team from Jorhat, led by deputy commissioner Solanki Vishal Vasant, today visited the border and held a meeting with his Mokokchung counterpart Sushil Kumar Patel.
The deputy commissioner said he had requested his Mokokchung counterpart in Nagaland to dismantle the huts constructed by Nagaland villagers in the area.
"We have been assured that the newly constructed huts would be dismantled within the next few days. If the Nagaland authorities fail to do so, we have to take steps," he said.
Kurmi, has been camping at Rongkham basti, where the development took place since yesterday. He told The Telegraph that he had informed chief minister Tarun Gogoi about the development and urged him to take necessary steps.
"The villagers from Nagaland have constructed at least six houses at Tiru Hills reserve forest, which is about 2km away from Rongkham basti. If we allow them to do so, they will encroach upon the reserve forest land," Kurmi said.
He claimed that Nagaland had encroached upon approximately 23,000 hectares of the 25,000 hectares of land in the three reserve forests of Desoi Valley, Desoi and Tiru Hills located along the border despite the Supreme Court order to maintain status quo.
"We have appealed to the Supreme Court to expedite the case for a permanent solution to the border dispute and to stop Nagaland from encroaching upon Assam land," he said.
Kurmi said Assam villagers were living in fear because of constant threat from the other side of the border.
Mariani, which falls under Titabar subdivision here, shares its boundary with Mokokchung district of Nagaland and faces boundary skirmishes from time to time.
A couple of years ago, a worker of Naginijan tea estate here was killed and four others were injured by suspected militants from the Nagaland side of the border, resulting in tension along the border.
Jorhat shares a 101km boundary with Mokokchung and Wokha districts of Nagaland.
The total inter-state boundary stretches 434km across five districts of Assam.
