GUWAHATI, Dec 26— Illegal Bangladeshi migrants are eying Mukong Selek Jonai Tribal Belt along Assam-Arunachal boundary in Dhemaji district much to the chagrin of local tribal population there. Already over 5000 ‘non-bonafied’ persons with doubtful citizenship status are trying to settle down in the far-flung belt at the expense of the sons of the soil from that area while the local administration is turning a deaf ear to the repeated demands from Mukong Selek Jonai Tribal Belt Protection Action Committee for eviction of these illegal occupants from the area.
The Action Committee office-bearers who were here to take up the matter with the State Revenue Commissioner and Secretary in the form of a memorandum, today informed that these suspected Bangladeshi migrants had been trying to procure land patta in Jonai tribal belt after they had been dumped by Arunachali landlords who hire their services for farming every year.
The Committee office-bearers allege that Arunachali landlords engage different groups of farm labourers with doubtful citizenship status every year. Once the farming season is over, the land owners from Arunachal areas adjacent to Jonai dump these labourers on the Assam side of the border paving way for encroachment of tribal belt land by these ‘non-bonafied’ persons.
The Action Committee officer-bearers raised alarm stating that the problem of encroachment was going out of control over the years due to inert attitude of the local administration. They also alleged hand of local political leaders behind the ‘design’ to settle these ‘non-bonafied’ people in the tribal belt for the purpose of creation of vote bank.