Fence work stopped after BGB objection

Assam-Bangladesh border

Staff Reporter

Guwahati, April2: That Bangladesh is coming in the way of fence work on the India-Bangladesh border in Karimganj district in Assam, came to light in the Assam Legislative Assembly on Monday when Congress MLA Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha raised the issue in the House and, on behalf of the Assam Accord Implementation Minister which Chief Minister Sarbanda Sonowal himself is, State Water Resources Minister Keshab Mahanta gave the details.

According to the minister, the fence work of 4.35 km in Karimganj district is pending due to objection raised by the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) despite the latter’s concurrence received in March 2017 after which work had commenced on March 15, 2017. The work was undertaken by the tiol Building Construction Company (NBCC). As the BGB again objected to the work in April 2017 and raised the issue of erection of reference pillars in the area, the work had to be stopped, the minister said.

Mahanta informed the House that following the BGB’s objection, a high-level meeting was held in September last year, and the Ministry of Exterl Affairs had taken up the issue with the Bangladesh government.

The minister said as per information provided by the Border Security Force (BSF), out of the 263-km Assam-Bangladesh border, 201.408 km is covered by physical barriers – fence – and 61.59 km is yet to be fenced. Out of the border length yet to be fenced, 13.471 km with 103 gaps is to be covered by physical barrier and 48.121 km with 18 gaps by non-physical barrier.