Tension prevailed on the Assam-Mizoram border after a violent clash took place between the people of the two states, injuring several, on October 17.
The situation is now under control in the area, which is in Kolasib district of Mizoram and Cachar district of Assam, a police official said.
The Mizoram government has deployed personnel of the Indian Reserve Battalion in the violence-hit areas near the Vairengte village in Mizoram and Assam’s Lailapur, he said.
Vairengte in Mizoram’s Kolasib district is the northern fringe of the state through which the National Highway 306 (formerly 54) passes, linking the state to Assam. The nearest village in Assam is Lailapur, which is in the Cachar district.
Kolasib district deputy commissioner H Lalthlangliana told that a large number of Vairengte residents assembled when some people from Assam, armed with sticks and dao, pelted stones at a group near the auto-rickshaw stand on the outskirts of the border village on October 17 evening.
The irate mob from Vairengte retaliated and set on fire about 20 temporary bamboo huts and stalls built along the national highway by residents of Lailapur despite a prohibitory order being in place, he said.
In the violent clash that lasted for several hours, many people including four from Mizoram, were injured, Lalthlangliana said.
One of the injured persons, who suffered a cut in his neck, was admitted to the Kolasib district hospital and the condition was critical. Three people were being treated at a Public Health Centre (PHC) in Vairengte, he said.
“Despite the prohibitory order under Section 144 of the CrPC and policemen trying their best, the situation turned violent and became out of control as people gathered in large numbers,” he said.
The incident could be the fallout of the demolition on October 17 afternoon of a makeshift hut used by local volunteers who guard the inter-state border near the Saihaipui ‘V’ village, about 3 km from Vairengte, he said.
The volunteers are guarding the border to check movement in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lalthlangliana said no one died in the clash and one person from Assam was admitted at Silchar Medical College and Hospital.
He said that he has spoken to Cachar deputy commissioner Keerthi Jalli over the violence and asked him to take measures to ensure that the national highway, which has been blocked by the local people, is cleared at the earliest.
Assam minister Parimal Suklabaidya, who visited the site on October 18, termed the incident as a handiwork of miscreants.
