U Kyaw Thet Win, a spokesperson for the Upper Chindwin Youth Network, said the request was made by India's consul-general in Mandalay, Mr N. Nand Kumar, and the deputy chief of mission at its embassy in Yangon, Mr Y.K. Sailas Thangal, at a meeting in Kale, Sagaing Region, on July 27.

U Kyaw Thet Win said the meeting with members of the network and the Chin Mountain Natural Resources Watchdog followed protests on July 13 about plans for the project, announced by the government of India's Manipur state on July 4.

The project for a market, bank, tourist and recreation centres and a clinic was planned on what U Kyaw Thet Win said was 3,000 acres (12.4 square kilometres) of disputed land near the Myanmar border town of Tamu, in Sagaing Region.

“They repeated their demands that we should hold no more protests," U Kyaw Thet Win said.

"We told them that we would continue to voice our objections until the border issues are resolved,” he said.

U Kyaw Thet Win quoted the Indian diplomats as saying the issue had been settled at national level talks between the Myanmar and Indian governments.

He said the diplomats had also asked that the groups do not object when the border crossing at Tamu, where operations were suspended in 2013, was reopened.

U Kyaw Thet Win said the two civil society groups had not been contacted by the Union government over the issue.

Sagaing Region Minister for Border Affairs Colonel Kyi Naing told Mizzima on July 27 that talks on the issue had been at the Union level and regional administrators were not involved.

Alleged border encroachments and disputes over border markers in the area had long been an issue, Col Kyi Naing said.