70 percent of the 443 kilometre India-Bangladesh border in Meghalaya fenced, says the BSF

SHILLONG: Seventy per cent of the India- Bangladesh border in Meghalaya has been fenced, a senior BSF official said here on Friday. Meghalaya Frontier BSF Inspector General Hardeep Singh said that the remaining work is also expected to be completed soon but clearance from the Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) is required for fencing 13 stretches.

“Of Meghalaya’s 443-km international border with Bangladesh, nearly 70 per cent has been fenced. Work is in progress in the unfenced stretches,” he said.

Clearance is required from the BGB for fencing 13 stretches as these areas fall within 150 yards of the zero line, he said.

“We have already taken up the matter with them and hope to receive the clearance very soon after which the entire border will be fenced,” Singh said.

Over 10,000 cattle and other items worth Rs 40 crore were seized along the border in the last one year, the BSF IG said.

He said smugglers use unfenced stretches along the border to smuggle cattle and other items but BSF has heightened its vigil.

Singh, however, denied the presence of militant camps from across Northeast and Meghalaya in particular in neighbouring Bangladesh.

“There is no specific input about the presence of camps of insurgent outfits from the Northeast in Bangladesh. The BGB had informed us that there is no such camp,” he said.