EMN
Dimapur, DECEMBER 6
Deputy Commissioner (DC) Mokokchung, Murohu Chotso, along with his team, today paid a good will visit to Sivasagar and met his counterpart, S.S. Meenakshi Sundaram IAS, in a bid to propagate neighbourly good relations.
During an informal get together at the circuit house, the two DCs who met for the first time, exchanged kind gestures and also discussed the current scenario prevailing in the Mokokchung-Sivasagar border areas.
Chotso explained to his counterpart the age-old good neighbourly relations between the Ahoms and the Nagas as also the traditional land holding system. He categorically stated that the “Dhodarali” and “Laidoigarh” roads were built by the Ahom kings. The roads served as the legal traditional boundaries with the Nagas but which were later modified by the British rulers without any consultations, or consent, from the Nagas.
Therfore, the Nagas “do not blame the Assam Government but it were the British rulers who had done it protect their interests for safeguarding Tea Plantations beyond these traditional boundaries as these lands were fertile for tea production,” Chotso said. He therefore, appealed to his counterpart to humanely take decisions while doing boundary demarcation in the interest of the public in general.
Sivasagar Deputy Commissioner applauded his counterpart for getting information on the historical background between these neighbours.
He appreciated the information on a good number of points vis-a-vis the vexed Assam-Nagaland border problems as he had been newly posted to this district. DC Sivasagar acknowledged that he learnt a lot many things today which he was never told or had read before on these issues.
During this informal meet, activation of Border Peace Coordination Committees along the Mokokchung-Sivasagar district was also discussed. Er. Temsu Wathi Ao, Coordinator of BPCC(A-N) has suggested to earmark capable persons with good standing from the bordering villages so that the committees can carry forward in spreading the message of goodwill and coordinated living amongst the people living in the border by initiating local peace committees.
He also appealed to both the administrators to extend possible logistics to committee members for conveyance etc in order to continue the peace mission. He further said that the members of BPCC(A-N) had been putting best efforts in initiating peace for the past many years purely on voluntary basis and therefore, the committee has been facing difficult phases in peace mitigation at times due to financial constraints.
Along with the two DCs, Rajesh Soundararajan, IAS and SDO(C) Mokokchung, two DBs with Coordinator BPCC(A-N) attended today’s get together along with B. G. Kuligan, ADC SI Rahman, Border Magistrate Richand Ahmed and DFO Sivasagar.
