By Staff Reporter
BANDERDEWA, Nov 19: A group of Arunachal residents protested against eviction drive notice served by Assam’s district administration (DA) for construction of National Highway 54 (now 15) here on Sunday.
Majority of the protestors claimed that the said land falls under Papumpare district and located within disputed boundary areas, thus Assam DA notice should be along with Arunachal DA.
When the boundary issues are being discussed by chief ministers of both states to hammer out permanent solution out of the court, such move may invite avoidable hue and cry among the public, they said.
“Have Nagoan PWD highway division authority and DC consulted Arunachal DA before serving eviction notice,” they questioned?
The notice was served by Lakhimpur DC on November 18 for eviction drive on November 20, they said and demand roll back of eviction drive till logical solution is not met followed by a fresh combined notice to be served by Assam & Arunachal DAs giving enough time to the residents.
The protestors claimed that Assam has served a notice to evict the structures which fall within 22 meter from Right of the Way (ROW), whereas it should have been 15 meter. Moreover, as the said land falls within reserved forest area of Arunachal Pradesh, both state Govts should work modalities before taking any hasty and harsh decision, they said.
Claiming that they had settled down in Banderdewa areas many years ago by maintaining status quo and relationships with Assam people, they cautioned Assam authorities to honour the demand or else it would disturb the situation. They also held Arunachal DA answerable for being mute spectators instead and demanded immediate intervention on the matter.
However, attempts to contact Capital DC Talo Potom over telephone for getting details on the issue failed.
The eviction drive is a part of ongoing efforts by Assam state Govt to clear land for the construction of NH in Banderdewa area. An eviction drive was carried out by Assam Govt in 2017 for construction of cement road over the same stretches of NH.
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