Assam students’ bandh on Tuli-Amguri road lifted

Dimapur, July 26 (EMN): Students from Assam imposed a ‘bandh’ on July 26 near the Nagaland gate on the Tuli-Amguri National Highway for six hours. It started at around 10 am. An official source from Nagaland informed that they didn’t give any information to the media or to the administration in concern about the strike and that it may happen again and again.

Speaking to Eastern Mirror over the telephone, the deputy commissioner (DC) of Mokokchung Sachin Jaiswal said that the strike had been lifted after intervention from security forces and the Mokokchung administration. Asked why the abrupt strike was imposed and without prior information, the DC stated that it was in response to a ‘land clearance’ order in which they were asked to stop undertaking any construction work.

The people of Assam in the area along with Assam police personnel started clearing the land to set up a police outpost near the Nagaland gate on July 23. The area is said to be a traditional ‘jhum’ cultivation area of Wameken village. But they were halted since the area was under the Disturbed Area Belt (DAB). As a result, the DC opined that the strike that was carried out today was in response to the order.

According to an official source, in 1972, the claimed area was declared DAB. The order was given that no one should construct anything in that area. He claimed that the act of land clearing for construction of an outpost on July 23 was a violation of an order from Assam.

The source also informed that the ‘bandh’ might be imposed again and again until the government of Nagaland takes up the matter seriously with Assam.