Kolkata, Oct. 2 -- After the newly formed West Bengal BJP government approved, at its first Cabinet meeting in May, the transfer of land to the BSF for completing long-pending border fencing, the state government has stepped up the process to curb alleged illegal cross-border infiltration and smuggling.
Over the past four months, the state has handed over around 1,177 acres to the BSF for fencing along sensitive stretches of the India-Bangladesh border in nine districts. Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has also stressed the need to expedite land transfers for border fencing.
Land acquisition for border fencing would be completed after 94 acres of land are further handed over. Fencing has been done on a stretch of 1,653 kms out of 2,216 on the international border. Land acquisition is yet to be completed in five out of nine districts along the border. Out of nine bordering districts, handing over of land has been completed in Murshidabad, North 24-Parganas, North Dinajpur and Darjeeling.
The highest amount of land has been transferred in Murshidabad with 362.8 acres, followed by North 24-Parganas 243.7 acres, Malda 247.7 acres of land. In Nadia, 113.3 acres of land has been handed over. Bengal shares a 2,216.7-km border with Bangladesh.
The transferring of land for border fencing, for quite some time, remained a topic of political debate. The BJP had blamed the previous TMC for not providing land as required for border fencing.
The TMC, however, denied the charges levelled against it by the BJP. The BJP has also taken credit for the move, alleging that the previous TMC government delayed land acquisition for years, contributing to illegal cross-border infiltration.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.