After decade-long wait, BSF to fence 110km long stretch

THe due west Bengal authorities’s conclusion to reassign shore to the Border Security Force (BSF) for border fencing — among the first major decisions taken by the Suvendu Adhikari-led cabinet — had remained stuck in Kolkata’s bureaucracy for more than a decade. Officials aware of the matter said building a fence along nearly 110 km of land across nine border districts was stuck because the state government first took time to approve the land and then did not hand it over to the BSF for the past four years.The state cabinet’s decision will now pave the way for fencing several stretches of the Indo-Bangladesh border. The largest pending stretches include around 41.9 km in Cooch Behar, followed by 31.8 km in Malda, 21.5 km in North 24 Parganas and 14.5 km in Dakshin Dinajpur, among other districts.“It is not that the previous TMC-led government never transferred land in these districts for fencing work. But for some reason, the handover process was being delayed at these key spots,” said a BSF officer, who asked not to be named, citing the example of Malda, where the state government had handed over around 2 km of land in the last three years, while over 31 km remained with the state.“This is the kind of delay that was hampering border fencing and helping criminals,” the officer added.HT reached out to TMC spokesperson, who said he would check with the party leaders and then respond.Even before Adhikari’s announcement about the land transfer, senior bureaucrats of the state government and BSF officials had discussed the matter informally and verbally last week. The BSF had planned to formally approach the new CM’s office about this issue.Adhikari announced on Monday that he instructed his officers to complete the land transfer process within 45 days.“Despite many reminders the TMC government did not hand over the land. The BSF’s Eastern Command pursued this issue, as did the Union ministry. This was a major setback for the force because over 110 km of the most sensitive stretches remains unfenced,” the official said.India shares a 4,096.7 km border with Bangladesh border, of which Bengal accounts for the longest stretch at 2216.7 km. At many places where fencing is not possible due to topography and river borders, BSF has used physical and technological solutions for surveillance at such places by using smart cameras, sensors and setting up border outposts.Of West Bengal’s total 2,216.7 km border, 1,647 km is fenced. Almost 80% of this was fenced before the TMC came to power in 2013. Fence construction began in 1986. Topography prevents fencing along approximately 180 km of the border. Officials said the TMC handed over less than 200 km in 13 years.BSF officials in the force’s Eastern Command are also hopeful that the new government will review the posting of police officers at stations along the Indo-Bangladesh border.“BSF does not have investigation powers so all those arrested at the border were handed to the police. There have been so many instances of BSF handing over infiltrators who were later shown to be Indian nationals by the police in their probe,” a second official said.