Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb has urged Union Home Minister Amit Shah to complete the border fencing work along the India-Bangladesh frontiers to curb smuggling of drugs and other contrabands, illegal cross border movement and crimes, an official said on Friday.
According to Border Security Force (BSF) officials, the various agencies engaged by the government have completed the fencing work on 790 km of the total stretch of the state's 856 km-long international borders with Bangladesh.
The Indian side of the international border passes through West Bengal (2,216 km), Assam (263 km), Meghalaya (443 km), Tripura (856 km) and Mizoram (318 km).
Deb held a meeting with Shah in New Delhi on late Thursday, an official of the Chief Minister's secretariat said. Deb, who also holds the Home portfolio, had earlier met top officials of the BSF and state government, Tripura Police, district administrations here, and reviewed the progress of the barbed-wire border fencing work.
"The Chief Minister had asked the senior officials and construction agencies to complete the works of border fencing along India-Bangladesh frontier on a 'war-footing manner'," another official of Home department said.
Deb also told the officials not to tolerate any obstruction during the construction work. The officials apprised the Chief Minister that land acquisition has been completed. The fencing would be in a single-line pattern in some parts and double-line in other portions.
The Tripura Home department officials said houses, homesteads, farmland and various others properties of a large number of families have fallen on the other side of the fence, resulting in numerous problems, including uncertainty and insecurity.
India started construction of the fence and floodlights along the 4,096-km India-Bangladesh border around 23 years ago to curb the cross-border movement of terrorists, stop infiltration and check various border crimes, including smuggling and illegal trade.
The mountainous terrain, dense forests, riverine and other hindrances make the borders porous and vulnerable, enabling militants, illegal immigrants and intruders cross over without any major hurdles.
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