ITANAGAR, 19 Sep: A team of the National People's Party's (NPP) Arunachal Pradesh unit on Saturday visited Taraso for ground verification of the interstate border issue, along with village elders and affected farmers of Taraso.

After the ground level visit, the NPP unit demanded an immediate and time-bound sitting of the high-power committee (HPC) on the border issue to bring an end to the vexed boundary issue forever for peaceful coexistence of the two neighbouring states.

The NPP has also sought maintaining the status quo in the disputed areas, so that no further life or property is affected.

The NPP suggested declaring a buffer zone in the disputed site and joint patrolling of the buffer zone by special task forces from both the state governments twice a month till a permanent solution is achieved through the HPC.

The NPP said that the team interacting with the affected families came to know that the farmlands of more than 270 farmers have been forcibly captured by the Assam Forest Task Force. "Their farmlands have been blocked by security fencing, bunkers and are guarded 24x7 by the Forest Task Force," NPP national general secretary Paknga Bage said in a release.

The release further said: "The landowners are not allowed to enter their own land and forest areas. Their farm produce and domestic cattle have become inaccessible to them since the imposition of the interstate border restriction. The farmers have sought immediate solution to the border issue."

The NPP unit said that, on the other hand, the state government's HPC, which was constituted under the Namsai Declaration, has hardly held even one sitting in the last four years.

"Such a slow pace of action will yield no result," the release said.