After being pulled up by the Supreme Court for remaining a "mute spectator" over the boundary disputes between Assam-Nagaland-Arunachal Pradesh, the Centre on Thursday told the apex court that due to strong opposition from local population it is not possible to demarcate the inter-state boundary using the Survey of India map.
Filing an affidavit on a 26-year-old suit filed by Assam against the states, the ministry of home affairs also contended that "the inter-state boundary between Assam-Nagaland and Assam-Arunachal Pradesh as depicted on Survey of India topo sheets was not authenticated/verified by the state governments concerned."
"The total length of inter-state boundary between Assam and Nagaland is approximately 512.09 linear km but this total length is not authenticated or verified by respective state governments. There was strong opposition from local population indicating that the boundary malignment as shown on Survey of India maps is not acceptable to them. For these reasons, it is not possible and not appropriate to demarcate the inter-state boundary between states using survey of India maps," as per the affidavit.
Earlier this month, the government had pulled up the Centre saying that it cannot remain a "mute spectator" to the 50-year-old border dispute between Assam and Nagaland. Centre is supposed to act and resolve it in terms of court's earlier order.
In the affidavit, the government also said after the Local Commission's recommendations in June 2014, a meeting was held in home ministry with the chief secretaries of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh on December 9 and the states were asked to examine the suggestions and file their responses.
Regarding taking up of imageries of the borders, the North East Centre for Technology Application and Research (NECTAR) has advised that the best technology for getting the latest imagery and very high resolution would be with Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) vehicles where as with the satellite imagery will not be better than 50 cm. The exercise will require a total time of six months and the total cost would be about Rs 113 lakh.
Decades-old dispute
Assam and Nagaland share a 434-km boundary and the border dispute dates back to 1963 when Nagaland was carved out of Assam's Naga Hills district.
Nagaland has been demanding some portions that it believes "historically" belong to it and seeks "restoration" of all Naga territories.
However, the Assam government wants to maintain the boundary which has been decided on December 1, 1963 when Nagaland was created.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}