Aizawl , June 16 - A Mizoram Assembly committee has strongly suggested construction of good roads and provision of electricity along the Indo-Myanmar border and that there is no need for Indo-Myanmar border fencing as the people on both sides of the border are culturally related.
It also pointed out the Madhular Gupta Committee recommendations that emphasised on the importance of good roads and electricity in the border villages than border fencing in Mizoram as the two countries have a clear natural boundary in Mizoram.
This was stated in a memorandum presented by the subject committee-I of Mizoram Assembly to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh during his recent visit to Mizoram. The memorandum highlighted the problems faced in the Indo-Bangla border fencing and non-payment of compensation.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh was informed that Mizoram has lost a large area of cultivable land due to the fencing of Indo-Bangladesh border.
“The border fencing has rendered many families near the Bangladesh border homeless and landless, and the affected families have not been adequately compensated,” the memorandum said.
The memorandum stated the works on border fencing that began in 2005-2006 without consulting the State Government, have put some villages out of the fence while it has bifurcated some villages. The fencing damaged playgrounds, and other village infrastructure.
The committee, during a survey, found that the Border Security Force, violated the guidelines that said the fence should be constructed 150 yards from the zero line, thus resulting in a loss of a large portion of cultivable land. In some places, the fence has been constructed three to five kilometres from the actual border, it said.