Nehru allowed 40-km free entry into India from Myanmar under FMR: Assam CM

GUWAHATI: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, on Thursday (February 08), hailed the decision of the central government to scrap the free movement regime (FMR) between India and Myanmar.

Hailing the decision of the BJP-led central government, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma took a jibe at the previous Congress governments at the Centre saying that former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru allowed a 40-km free entry.

“Congress does not seem to recollect contributions of Pandit Nehru. The Free Movement Regime with Myanmar had its genesis in 1950 vide Notification no 4/15/50-FI,” said Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma.

He added: “In fact Nehru government allowed 40 km visa free entry under free movement regime (FMR), which was reduced to 16 kilometres in 2004 and set for scrapping in 2024.”

Also read: Manipur CM lauds scrapping of FMR between India and Myanmar

He was responding to a statement from Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who slammed the BJP-led central government for its decision to scrap the FMR between India and Myanmar.

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said: “This government had itself made this regime (India-Myanmar Free Movement Regime). The government should first work to resolve the conflict between Kuki and Meitei communities as soon as possible.”

Meanwhile, the Centre has said that it has decided to scrap the India-Myanmar Free Movement Regime (FMR) to “maintain the country's internal security and demographic structure of the Northeast states”.