Indo-Bangla border to be sealed soon: Assam minister

[Bombay Dude]

SILCHAR: Union minister of state for
home Jitendra Singh has said porous
areas along the India-Bangladesh
border in the state will be sealed soon
in view of fear of security threat to the
life and property of people living in such areas. The Union minister on Wednesday said
some areas along the border are porous
because of the absence of a fence. The
minister visited the bordering areas in
the Mizoram-Cachar Frontier and took
stock of the situation there. The minister added that the long
stretch of border along Karimganj town
in the Barak Valley is yet to be fenced.
The problem is that a vast area of the
thickly populated Indian border town,
including important government and business establishments, will have to be
barricaded out in course of the fencing,
which should be erected 150 yards
away from the zero point of the actual
border. "I will take it up with the
government after going back to Delhi. I'm sure there will be a solution with
full cooperation with our Bangladesh
counterpart. Till then, there will be no
security problem under the constant
vigil of the BSF," said Singh. The minister also visited Bhanga,
Steamerghat and Sutarkandi border
outposts (BOP) of BSF by a speed boat.
He inspected the 14-km stretch of the
92-km international border with
Bangladesh in Assam's Karimganj district. Singh was apprised of the
problems being faced by BSF jawans
responsible for guarding this part of the
border. He took stock of river erosion
which has made the job of BSF
increasingly difficult and dangerous, particulary in the Barak Valley. The erosion of river banks along the
border has led to the collapse of the
barbed wire fence and damaged roads
and border lines in many areas,
including Cherulbhag and Jabainpur
villages in Karimganj district, making patrolling difficult. The BSF men demanded that they
should be equipped with modern
gadgets to guard the borders. They also
sought better accommodation facilities.
The Union minister assured them of
doing his best to address the problems. The minister, later, reached BSF's
Mizoram-Cachar Frontier headquarters
at Mashimpur near Silchar and had a
meeting with senior BSF officers,
including officiating inspector general of
BSF (Mizoram-Cachar Frontier) D K Tripathi. On Tuesday, the Union minister reached
Mizoram where he visited BSF BOPs at
Demagiri, South Phuldengsei and
Kaislam. After a night halt at Raj Bhavan
in Aizawl , Singh on Wednesday
morning visited theCounter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School (CIJW) at
Vairengte, Mizoram, a training and
research establishment of theIndian
Army, specializing in unconventional
warfare, especially counter-insurgency
and guerrilla warfare. While India shares 4,096-km border
with Bangladesh, of which 2,980-km
lies is land and 1,116 km riverine, the
northeast shares a 1,880-km border
with the neighbouring country.

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[Green Hornet]

These steps are necessary especially after the reports of there being more than 30 million illegal bangladeshis living in india. But one may argue that these steps are too little and too late.

 

[TopCat]

Good move, a fenced border is in interest of Bangladesh.