Guwahati, May 17 (UNI): The Nagaland administration has registered a case against Asom forest officials under three IPC sections for allegedly 'dismantling 14 Naga houses within their territory'.
Confirming the development, a senior forest official said the cases were lodged on May 16 by the Mukokchung administration against the forest officials, including a beat officer of the Asom forest department, who carried out an 'eviction drive' in the disputed Dessoi Valley Reserve forest, around 22 km from Jorhat in upper Asom, in the E Sector of the Asom-Nagaland border.
Tension has escalated in the sector following reports that encroachers, all hailing from Nagaland, have started rebuilding houses which were razed during the eviction. Led by a Beat Officer, forest officials of Asom carried out an 'eviction drive' at the Aosandam Basti in the disputed Dessoi Valley Reserve, which falls partly under Asom and partly under Nagaland, on May 9.
An official, who was present during the drive, said around 14 hovels erected by 'encroachers' in the disputed Dessoi Valley Reserve Forest were evicted.
Even though the 'encroachers' protested the Asom Forest department's move, the Aosandam Basti area, around 25 km from Jorhat in upper Asom, was cleared by the officials.
In a complaint to its counterpart in Jorhat district of Asom, the Mukokchung administration said, ''Accompanied by armed security personnel, forest and police officials of Asom raided a village in Mukokchung district of Nagaland and set ablaze 14 hovels in the area.'' The administration of the neighbouring state also sought action against the officials for 'intruding into their territory and launching such an illegal action.'' A source in the Forest Department said the Nagaland government has fanned out reinforcements in the disputed area to counter any further drives by the Asom government.
The inter-state boundary has been a bone of contention between the two northeastern states ever since Nagaland was carved out.
While Asom claims that Nagaland has encroached around 1.6 lakh hectare of its territory, the latter says the tracts belonged to them 'traditionally and historically'.
In the E Sector, which engulfs three reserve forests, around 26,000 hectare has been encroached by people from Nagaland, the Asom government claims.
'Unification of all Naga dominated areas', which includes parts of Asom and Arunachal Pradesh, is among the major demands of the insurgent outfit NSCN(IM), which is currently under ceasefire and holding talks with the Centre. The Asom Government had filed a petition at the Supreme Court seeking a solution to the decade-old boundary dispute.
A committee appointed by the Supreme Court to resolve the vexed dispute recently conducted hearings at Guwahati and Kohima.
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