Bathinda, April 13 -- Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Sunday said the Centre has decided to shift the border fencing closer to the International Border (IB), emphasising that the move will bring major relief to farmers long forced to cultivate under tight BSF restrictions.

Barbed wire fencing was installed along the International Border with Pakistan between 1988 and 1991 to stop arms smuggling during the terrorism period, with construction extending to 1993 for floodlighting, restricting access to 21,300 acres of farmland. Mann, during his meeting with Union home minister Amit Shah in early January this year, had said that the central government had agreed in principle to shift the security fence closer to the International Borde...