Assam loses 83,000 hectares to encroachment by four states including Meghalaya

Assam's Border Protection and Development Minister Atul Bora, on March 5, informed the assembly that approximately 83,000 hectares of state's land has been encroached upon by four neighboring states.

The four states encroaching the land are Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Mizoram.

Responding to a question by Congress MLA Rekibuddin Ahmed, Bora said 82,751.86 hectare of land across 18 districts have been encroached upon by Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Mizoram.

The highest area of 59,490.21 hectare is in the possession of Nagaland. Meghalaya has encroached upon 3,441.86 hectare of land, the least among the four states, he said.

Arunachal Pradesh has encroached upon 16,144.01 hectare of land, while 3,675.78 hectare is in the possession of Mizoram, he added.

Among the affected districts of Assam are Sonitpur, Biswanath, Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Charaideo and Jorhat, the minister said.