Union HM Amit Shah to visit Mizoram on Saturday

Union Home Minister Amit Shah will visit Mizoram on Saturday during which he is scheduled to attend a crucial programme, an official said on Wednesday. The Union Home Minister is scheduled to visit neighbouring Assam on March 14-16 during which he will also pay a day-visit to Mizoram on March 15 to attend the shifting programme of Assam Rifles bases from Aizawl to Zokhawsang about 15 km east of the state capital, he said. He will return to Guwahati after attending the function on the same day, the official said. During his visit to Assam, the Shah is scheduled to attend multiple programmes, including the annual conference of All Bodo Students Union (ABSU), he said. The Mizoram government and Assam Rifles had signed a formal agreement to relocate the paramilitary force’s bases from the heart of Aizawl to the designated battalion complex at Zokhawsang on October 23 last year in New Delhi.

The agreement will come into effect in April and the country’s oldest paramilitary force will vacate its main barrack complex, AR ground or Lammual, unit hospital, loch house, quarter guard and other establishments and lands in different parts of the state capital and shift them to Zokhawsang, officials said. As per the agreement, Assam Rifles will retain its 23 sector headquarter, Mizoram range in Aizawl’s Khatla neighbourhood (95.88 acres) and DIG residence near Raj Bhavan at Tuikhuahtlang area (0.85 acre), they said. The lands and buildings vacated by the AR will be reserved for public use as per the Restriction of Use of Transferred Land Act, 2022, they said. The demand for relocation of AR bases from the heart of Aizawl to Zokhawsang  was raised by the erstwhile Mizo National Front (MNF) government headed by former Chief Minister Laldenga in 1988 after the paramilitary force killed 11 civilians in a violent clash.

In February 2019, the Union Home Ministry had directed the paramilitary force to shift its bases to Zokhawsang by May 31 that year. However, the relocation was delayed after Assam Rifles alleged that certain infrastructures and facilities are yet to be resolved. The Zokhawsang complex was inaugurated by Shah in April, 2023. Shah will also hold a meeting with chief ministers of Northeastern states on three new criminal laws in Guwahati on March 16, the official said.