Arunachal Governor flags Myanmar fence delays in Tirap, Changlang, Longding

Arunachal Pradesh Governor K T Parnaik on Sunday flagged delays in fencing the Myanmar border along Tirap, Changlang and Longding. He told the Army, Assam Rifles, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) and the three district administrations that Union Home Ministry directions on the fence must now turn into "timely action on the ground".

The security review in Namsai on November 15 was the second meeting the Governor has called just to speed up the fencing project, according to a Lok Bhavan statement reported by PTI, India Today NE and The Times of India.

Who was in the room

The Lok Bhavan statement, as reported by India Today NE, says the Governor was briefed by Assam Rifles officers Maj Gen H S Mavi (IG HQs, IGAR North) and Brig Adarsh Kumar Singh (DIG, HQ 25 Sector); S K Verma, Chief Engineer of the BRO's Project Udayak, which builds the fence; IGP (Law and Order) Apur Bitin; Deputy Commissioners Lobsang Tsering (Namsai), R D Thungon (Changlang) and Badonlum Tawsik (Tirap); and Longding Additional Deputy Commissioner Pebika Lego.

The district officers briefed him on fencing progress, "implementation-related bottlenecks" and problems in anti-drug work, the statement said. Parnaik asked for a "whole-of-the-state" approach.

The statement did not say how many kilometres have been fenced, or which stretches are delayed.

How far the fence had got by June

The latest district-level account is a June 2026 report in The Arunachal Times. It reported:

• Changlang: 4.14 km of fence finished out of 7.3 km planned in the first phase. This is the pilot stretch around the Pangsau Pass.
• Longding: 20.5 km planned in the first phase, from Border Pillar 156 to 160. Only approach roads had been started. The SP said the terrain is so difficult in many places that no fencing is planned there for now.
• Tirap: fencing planned from BP 160 to 164, but work had not begun. Land from BP 160 to 162 had been handed over to the BRO. Land for BP 163 to 164 had not.

The work is risky: in March 2026, an Assam Rifles jawan was injured when suspected NSCN (K-YA) militants fired on a fencing team in Changlang, the paper reported.

Sunday's statement gave no new figures, so how much has changed since June is not public.

Arunachal against the other border states

Arunachal has 520 km of the 1,643 km India-Myanmar border. The rest runs through Mizoram (510 km), Manipur (398 km) and Nagaland (215 km). The Centre approved fencing the whole border in March 2024 at a cost of Rs 31,000 crore. By July 2026, about 50 km had been fenced across all four states, government sources told The Hindu when Union Home Minister Amit Shah reviewed Manipur's security.

In Manipur, only about 10 km near Moreh in Tengnoupal had been fenced by the BRO's Project Sewak as of an October review, The Economic Times reported. The Arunachal Times noted that the project has faced strong opposition from local communities in Manipur, Nagaland and Mizoram, while work in Arunachal has gone ahead more steadily.

The Free Movement Regime was also tightened in 2024, cutting the visa-free zone from 16 km to 10 km, The Hindu reported.

Why it matters in Tirap, Changlang and Longding

The TCL districts are Arunachal's frontline with Myanmar, and the statement named cross-border narcotics trafficking as a continuing threat alongside the fence delays. For border villages, the fence also means handing over land, which in Tirap was still incomplete in June. Parnaik said a full security assessment was needed "to maintain peace, stability and public confidence," India Today NE reported.

The same border, further south

On November 15, a Myanmar national was held with three AK-47s near Border Pillar 75 in Tengnoupal. On November 10, four KYKL and PREPAK cadres were arrested near the border in Chandel. On November 9, forces in Manipur flagged a Myanmar link after recovering more than 4,000 firearms that were not looted police weapons.

What happens next

Lok Bhavan has given no deadline or date for the next review. The markers to watch are new BRO figures for Changlang's first phase, a start of work in Tirap once the BP 163-164 land is handed over, and the district coordination meetings the Governor asked for. NEInsider will update this story when official figures are released.