ITANAGAR, The Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament, Nabam Rebia has strongly condemn the eviction notice served by official of forest department, Govt. of Assam to Arunachal Villages settled in Assam Arunachal Border areas namely- Belo, Lora, Buka and Gumto in Papum Pare district.
In a written statement, the MP said that the Govt. of Assam is not oblivious of the fact that the Local Boundary Commission Report headed by Justice Tarun Chatterjee is now pending in the Supreme Court of India. As such, the matter is subjudice and neither the Govt. of Assam nor the Govt. of Arunachal Pradesh should do anything pertaining to the long pending vexed border dispute between two states. Rebia said.
The Govt of Assam should also take note of the fact that a number of status quo agreements between the two states on Assam-Arunachal have been signed by successive Governments of both states. It is a matter of great concern that the Govt. of Assam has been resorting to eviction drives to innocent tribal people of Arunachal time and again. This big brotherly attitude of the Govt. of Assam is highly condemnable. The peace-loving people of Arunachal want a cordial relationship between the two states. But it should not be construed as a weakness on the part of Arunachal people. He said.
“ I welcome the agreement between two state Governments to compound this pending issue outside the court. Pending such settlements, neither of the states should do anything to complicate the matter further”. He said.
“I call upon the Govt. of Assam to desist from harassing the innocent people of Arunachal who have been settling in the Assam Arunachal border area since time immemorial. The Govt. of Assam should also fully understand the historical background of the original boundary of the two states. He said.
Whatever the situation may be any officer or official of either state has any problem they should contact the counterpart in spite of serving such eviction notice in the villages. The forest official who has issued such eviction notice should immediately recall as it reflects the violation of status quo being maintained as per the direction of the supreme court of India. Rebia added.
Rebia further sought immediate intervention of chief minister of Assam Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma and Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh Pema Khandu on the vexed issue.
