Kohima: The Naga Students` Federation (NSF) has demanded that the Nagaland-Assam border belt be declared as underdeveloped and the CRPF deployed in the area be replaced by Nagaland police personnel.
In a representation to Nagaland Governor Nikhil Kumar yesterday, the apex Naga students body demanded that the Nagaland-Assam border belt should be declared as underdeveloped area and infrastructures built there. The NSF also demanded improvement and development of road connectivity within the border villages besides construction of a foothill road stretching to the entire Assam-Nagaland boundary to ease the movement of Nagas from one district to another without passing through Assam.
It asked the government to accord top priority to the development of the border areas with special packages, especially in areas of basic amenities and human development.
The NSF asserted that the 1979 boundary agreement made between the chief ministers of Assam and Nagaland remained "ineffective" as it agreed to maintain status till final demarcation of the inter-state border, and the areas inhabited by the Naga villagers were declared as disputed belt and CRPF was given the task of maintenance of law and order. It demanded that Nagaland armed police posts in the border areas with necessary infrastructure should be erected by removing all CRPF camps and check gates along public-inhabited areas.
It demanded that a senior official at least in the rank of a joint secretary should be designated as border magistrate. PTI