Assam: Forest Demarcation Pillars on Arunachal Boundary Removed In Lakhimpur

LAKHIMPUR: According to the Assam Forest Department, amid the ongoing conflicts over the inter-state boundaries between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, individuals on the other side of the border are suspected of dismantling demarcation pillars at Methun Chapori in Ranga Reserve Forest in Lakhimpur district.

Suspected Arunachal Pradesh residents recently ripped away concrete pillars that had been placed by the Lakhimpur Forest Department for plantations made possible under the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) scheme, according to Assam Forest Department personnel.

The Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) scheme is run by the Indian government's Ministry of Environment and Forests. It was created to preserve sustainability and make up for the loss of forest land. It also seeks to mitigate the effects of diverting forest land for non-forest activities.

This was preceded by a visit on Friday by the Circle Officer of the Kimin, Papum Pare district of Arunachal Pradesh, who urged the Lakhimpur Forest staff to halt the CAMPA operation there.

Belo village residents in Arunachal Pradesh claim that individuals from the Assam side of the border entered their side and infringed upon their property by placing concrete pillars along a five-kilometer stretch of the border.

Following several accusations and denials of encroachment on forest land in the district's inter-State border areas, the Lakhimpur district administration has been at odds with Arunachal Pradesh for more than ten years. Previously, the situation in the Kakoi Reserve Forest in the Lakhimpur district is tight following nocturnal shooting from across the inter-state boundary along Assam-Arunachal Pradesh on March 20.

The Assam Forest department officials were accused of interfering with the construction of the Pradhan Mantri Gramme Sadak Yojna (PMGSY) road by the Arunachal Pradesh authority in the Bogoli-Denka area on the inter-state boundary between Lakhimpur district and Papum Pare district earlier on March 11.

After the Chief Ministers of the two states signed the Memorandum of Understanding on April 21 in New Delhi about the settlement of the boundary, this was the third such clash on the Assam-Arunachal interstate boundary.

In accordance with the MoU, the state governments have decided that, in addition to these 123 villages, no additional claim areas or villages will be added in the future. Along with that, it declares that both governments "agree to effectively prevent any new encroachment in the border areas" and that the MoU is "full and final" with regard to the 123 communities.

Arunachal Pradesh and Assam have achieved an agreement about 71 villages; of those, one village from Arunachal Pradesh will be included in Assam, ten villages would remain in Assam, and 60 villages from Assam will be included in Arunachal Pradesh.

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