Peren CSOs write to Nagaland CM over inter-district boundary demarcation

Dimapur, June 15 (EMN): Peren district civil society organisations and landowners said that the inter-district boundary demarcation between Peren district and the then Dimapur, now Chumoukedima, is long overdue since the bifurcation from the undivided Kohima district.

In a joint statement addressed to the chief minister of Nagaland, leaders of at least 10 organisations stated that the efforts of state government in ‘setting up Ezung Committee in 2003 and the Cabinet Sub-Committee in 2019 to settle the boundary demarcation lacked sincerity and political will as political manoeuvring overrode facts and realities’.

Declaring its “final stand” on the demarcation of inter-district boundary to the government, the civil societies said that the Cabinet Sub-Committee was constituted resolving the long standing boundary dispute between Peren district and Dimapur district (now Chumoukedima) but the state government seems to be unwilling to implement the recommendation of the committee, “which we reluctantly agree to accept as rationalised by the govt. as compromise formula solely for administrative convenience”.

Claiming that the government’s unwillingness is evident from its notification on boundary demarcation, which was issued earlier this month, the organisations said they “will not compromise for anything other than the agreed traditional boundary between Zeliang and Chakhro Angami tribes”.

“The CSOs of Peren district fully support the creation of Chumoukedima district from Dimapur. But dictating the government by a particular tribe to set inter-district boundary only for their community convenience as bargaining ploy to join the newly created Chumoukedima district is nothing but political blackmailing.

“Any decision/ notification from the state government resulting out of such blackmail will not be accepted if it involves the ancestral land of Zeliang in Peren district,” read the joint statement.

It stated that “the state government should evict all illegal unrecognised villages from the traditional land of Lamhai and Jalukie before any inter-district boundary demarcation is undertaken” and that such villages should not be mentioned in “future notification and documentation”.

It also cautioned the government that it would be held responsible for “development of any situation in future” over failure to consider the “realities”.

The joint statement was appended by the leaders of Zeliang People Organisation, Zeliangrong Baudi (N), Kuki Inpi Nagaland, Zeme Council, Liangmai Council, Peren District Village Council Chairman Union, Peren District GB Association, Lamhai Village Council, Jalukie Pumling Nko, and Kuki GBs Union.

It may be mentioned that the Governor of Nagaland had earlier this month notified the inter-district boundary between Peren and Chümoukedima (erstwhile Dimapur) districts, stating that it was done in accordance with the recommendations of the Cabinet Sub-Committee report. “The notified inter- district boundary is solely for administrative convenience and does not reflect the traditional boundary in any manner,” read the notice.