Student bodies warn of blockade against Nagaland

GUWAHATI: Ahead of the Lok Sabha election, several student organizations in the state have threatened to launch economic blockade against Nagaland alleging that miscreants from the state have been encroaching upon land in Assam along the inter-state border.
Influential student bodies of Assam - the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP), Karbi Students' Association (KSA) and Dimasa Students' Union (DSU) - warned the Nagaland government of imposing a blockade, at a meeting on Tuesday.
"The intrusion along the border areas in Assam from Nagaland is part of a well-crafted plan of NSCN-IM to create Grater Nagalim. We demand that the Nagaland government should take the matter seriously and initiate steps to stop this encroachment. Else, we will block all the roads which connect the neighbouring state with Assam," said AJYCP president Manoj Baruah. At the joint meeting, it was decided that the three student organiztions will not support Congress in the Lok Sabha polls if it fails to take effective measures to provide security to people living in the areas along the Assam-Nagaland border. AJYCP members condemned the alleged intrusion from the Nagaland side in the Dhansiri area and Daldali Reserve Forest in Karbi Anglong district of Assam.
The members of the three student bodies also demanded that the state government and the Centre should speed up infrastructure development programmes in the areas bordering Nagaland.