GUWAHATI: Nearly 83,000 hectares of Assam lands have been ‘encroached’ by four of its neighbouring Northeast states.
This was informed by Assam border protection and development minister Atul Bora in a written reply to BJP MLA Bidya Sing Engleng.
The Assam minister said a total of 82,751.86 hectares of land across 17 districts of Assam are under the control of four neighbouring states.
These Assam lands have been ‘encroached’ by the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Mizoram, the minister said.
Of the total 82,751.86 hectares of ‘encroached’ lands, 59,490.21 hectares are under the control of Nagaland, Assam minister Atul Bora said.
On the other hand, Meghalaya has 3441.86 hectares of Assam’s land, the least among the four states, the minister said.
Meanwhile, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram have encroached upon 16,144.01 hectares and 3675.78 hectares respectively, he added.
The 17 affected districts of Assam are Sonitpur, Biswanath, Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Charaideo, Jorhat, Sivasagar, Golaghat, Goalpara, Cachar, Kamrup, South Salmara-Mankachar, West Karbi Anglong, Hailakandi and Karimganj.