AIZAWL, March 12: Union Home Minister Amit Shah will visit Mizoram on March 15 when he will attend a function for shifting of Assam Rifles establishments from Aizawl to Zokhawsang, around 15 km from the state capital, an official said on Wednesday.
Shah, who will embark on a three-day tour of Assam from March 14 to March 16, will pay a day-long visit to Mizoram on March 15 to attend the function.
He will return to Guwahati on the same day after attending the function, the official said.
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During his visit to Assam, Shah is scheduled to attend multiple programmes, including the annual conference of the All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU), he said.
The Mizoram government and Assam Rifles had signed a formal agreement on October 23 last year in New Delhi for relocating the paramilitary force’s establishments from the heart of Aizawl to the designated battalion complex at Zokhawsang.
The agreement will come into effect in April this year and the country’s oldest paramilitary force will vacate its main barrack complex, AR Ground or Lammual, unit hospital, Loch House, quarters guard and other establishments and lands in different parts of the state capital and shift those to Zokhawsang, officials said.
As per the agreement, Assam Rifles will retain its 23 Sector Headquarters, 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 first raised by the erstwhile Mizo National Front (MNF) government headed by former chief minister Laldenga in 1988 after the paramilitary force allegedly 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 of that year.
However, the relocation was delayed after Assam Rifles alleged that certain infrastructure issues were yet to be resolved.
The Zokhawsang complex was inaugurated by Shah in April, 2023. (PTI)
