Sanjay Seth, was asked to take up necessary steps for an amicable early resolution of the boundary dispute and put on hold
the border fencing and scrapping of FMR
Sanjay Seth with the officials and villagers of Kamjong
district on April 9.
IMPHAL — Union
Minister of State for Defence, Sanjay Seth, was asked to take up necessary
steps for an amicable early resolution of the boundary dispute and put on hold
the border fencing and scrapping of FMR (Free Movement Regime).
Seth was on a two-day visit to the border state of Manipur
to review various development projects undertaken in Kamjong district which
borders Myanmar on its eastern side.
On the first day of visit on April 9, Manipur MLA Leishiyo
Keishing, who represents Phungyar assembly constituency in Kamjong district,
highlighted the various issues surrounding the FMR and border fencing in the
district to the visiting union minister.
On February 8 last year, the union Home minister had
announced that the centre had taken a decision that the entire border between
India and Myanmar (1643 km) in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland,
Manipur and Mizoram would be fenced.
Claiming that India under the Congress government had signed
an international boundary agreement with Myanmar on March 10, 1967, thereby
imposing an artificially demarcated boundary on the people of the border areas,
MLA Leishiyo, in a letter addressed to the visiting union minister, wrote,
“Till today many villages located at the border area vehemently oppose the
agreement as vast portions of land belonging to indigenous people of Manipur
have been lost to Myanmar.”
In order to redress the grievances of the public and to
further restore the land belonging to the people and state, the MLA requested
the union minister to take up necessary steps for an amicable early resolution
of the boundary dispute and put on hold the border fencing and scraping of FMR
until the issue is resolved in public interest.
The MLA also urged the MoS to improve connectivity in the
region by providing proper roads and connectivity for the people living in the
border area of India and also appealed to open more integrated check posts in
the state of Manipur.
Despite having equal border length, there are only two ICP
in the Indo-Myanmar border, while there are 24 ICP in Indo-Bangladesh border,
the MLA said adding that Kamjong, an extreme border district of the country
having 126 villages and 20 hamlets sparsely spread out in 2400 sq km sharing
120 km long international border with Myanmar, has a population of just 45,616.
Meanwhile, the Kamjong district administration, in a meeting
with the visiting union minister, also presented a proposal for a model town at
K Ashang Khullen Aze (KAKA) so as to boost Act East Policy of the country in
terms of connectivity and infrastructural development along Indo-Myanmar
border, thereby transforming it into a vibrant international corridor.
During the first meeting, the central minister met with 26
district level officers of 26 departments where he was highlighted with the
status report of the different departments under the government.
The visiting minister also had an interaction programme with
the representatives of 35 self-help groups in the presence of the deputy
commissioner, Rang Peter Rangnamei, and Kamjong SP, Ningshem Vashum.
Seth, who was accompanied by additional private secretary,
Jitendra Nath Mahato, after staying overnight at Kamjong district headquarter,
left for New Delhi via Imphal on Thursday.
Prior to his departure, the minister also visited nearby
sites in the border district apart from meeting representatives of civil
society organisations.
