Jorhat, July 7: The Jorhat district administration has assured farmers that they would be provided protection in and around Naginijan tea estate along the Assam-Nagaland border by deploying security forces in case anyone was “feeling unsafe” to work in the rice fields after last month’s shootout at the garden.

The residents near the inter-state boundary have been asked to inform the administration if they were facing any difficulty in carrying out farming owing to the fear of miscreants from across the boundary.

On June 3, a labourer of the tea estate, Sanjoy Bhumij, was shot dead by suspected militants from the Nagaland side while he was cultivating paddy on a plot within the garden. The incident was followed by exchange of fire between the suspected militants and Assam police personnel for over an hour.

Executive magistrate (Titabar sub-division), Jayanta Goswami, who is the border magistrate and in-charge of Mariani revenue circle, told The Telegraph today that the administration had received complaints from some organisations that some people are not able to carry out paddy cultivation close to the border after the June 3 incident.

Goswami said they have asked the residents to file written applications to Mariani circle office or the Titabar sub-divisional officer (civil) stating details about the plot of paddy cultivation and the reasons for not being able to carry out farming.

He said armed security personnel would be posted in areas within Assam territory to protect people carrying out paddy cultivation on their own plots of land. “We will provide protection only after verifying the land records and spot verification. Only people whose plots are not located in the disputed border areas will get armed protection to avoid any kind of confrontation with miscreants from across the border,” Goswami said.

The magistrate said people whose only profession was farming would get protection, as such families would face severe economic crisis if cultivation was hampered in any way.

Goswami said within this week, a border magistrate-level meeting with his Mokokchung (Nagaland) district counterpart will be held near Chutaphala gate along the inter-state boundary. The last meeting was held there on June 13. He said the request to handover the culprits responsible for killing Bhumij would be placed before the Mokokchung delegation again.

He said the incident in which two youths (vehicle mechanics) went missing from a village near the garden after they went on a motorcycle to a Naga locality on June 15 to repair a four-wheeler, is being investigated by Nagaland police. “No information on the duo has been found so far,” Goswami said.

Administration sources said the new Jorhat deputy commissioner Vishal Solanki would hold discussions tomorrow with border residents of Naginijan tea estate and officials at his office here.