Several injured, 20 houses gutted in clashes along Assam-Mizoram border

AIZAWL/GUWAHATI:

Several people were injured, and miscreants set several houses on fire during a clash along the Mizoram-Assam border on Tuesday, police said.

According to official sources, there was an altercation between two groups on Tuesday afternoon. One of the group members from Mizoram’s Kolasib district (which shares a boundary with Assam’s Hailakandi district) opposed the construction of a Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) road in the Jalnacherra-Kachurthal area.

Hailakandi superintendent of police Pabindra Kumar Nath said they brought the situation under control even as some pressure groups staged a road blockade in the area in protest against the incident.

“Three persons from Assam were injured in the clash on Tuesday afternoon when some miscreants from Mizoram attacked them after the altercation over road construction. While one of them suffered mild injuries, we have referred the other two to Hailakandi Civil Hospital,” Nath said.

Mizoram’s Aizawl, Kolasib and Mamit districts share a 164.6 km inter-state border with Assam’s Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj districts.

Police officials from Mizoram stated that the clash between the border residents took place when two employees of the Mizoram Power and Electricity Department and a member of the Bairabi Village Council were allegedly beaten up by some residents of Assam while they were taking photos for a survey.

“There were, however, no casualties,” officials said.

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Meanwhile, with the onset of darkness, another clash took place between two groups, and a house was set on fire.

“The groups retreated after police had to resort to blank fire. But during their retreat, they set at least 18 to 20 houses on fire,” the police official said.

No casualties were reported, and an investigation is underway, police said.

The situation along the Assam-Mizoram border has been tense since August last year.

On August 9, 2020, miscreants had set a house on fire and damaged a plantation near Thinghlun village in west Mizoram’s Mamit district.

Subsequently, in October, several individuals from the two neighbouring states were injured in clashes near the inter-state border.

Thereafter, two schools along the Assam border, including one in Cachar district, were damaged in ‘bomb’ attacks within a fortnight by miscreants.

Central armed forces were deployed on both sides of the border in November and meetings, chaired by Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla were held to address the matter.

(Edited by Ladiangti Rani)

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