The West Bengal government’s decision to transfer land to the Border Security Force (BSF) for fencing the border – among the first major decisions taken by the Suvendu Adhikari-led government – has been stuck in the Kolkata bureaucracy for over a decade. The construction of a fence along nearly 110 km of land across nine border districts was stuck because the state government initially took time to approve the land and then did not hand it over to the border guarding forces for the past four years, officials familiar with the matter said.
The state cabinet’s decision will now pave the way for fencing several areas of the India-Bangladesh border. The largest pending stretches include about 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 areas.
“It does not mean that the previous TMC-led government never transferred land in these areas for fencing works. But for some reason, the handover process was delayed in these key locations,” said a Border Security Forces officer, requesting anonymity, citing the example of Malda, where the state government had handed over about two km of land in the last three years, while more than 31 km remained for the state.
“This is the kind of delay that was hindering the border fence and helping criminals,” the officer added.
Hizb ut-Tahrir reached out to a spokesman for the Transitional Military Council, who said he would check with the party’s leaders and then respond.
Even before Adhikari’s announcement on land transfer, senior state government bureaucrats and BSF officials discussed the matter informally and orally last week. The BSF had planned to formally approach the new Prime Minister’s Office on the issue.
Adhikari announced on Monday that he had instructed his officers to complete the land transfer process within 45 days.
“Despite numerous reminders, the TMC government has not handed over the land. The Eastern Command of the Border Security Forces has pursued the issue, as has the Union Ministry. This was a major setback for the force as more than 110 km of the most sensitive stretches remain unfenced,” the official said.
India shares a 4,096.7 km border with Bangladesh, with Bengal being its longest stretch at 2,216.7 km. In many places where fencing is not possible due to terrain and river boundaries, the Border Guard has used physical and technological solutions to monitor such places using smart cameras, sensors and establishing border outposts.
Of West Bengal’s total borders of 2,216.7 km, 1,647 km are fenced. Nearly 80% of this was fenced before the TMC came to power in 2013. Construction of the fence began in 1986. The terrain prevents fencing along about 180 kilometers of the border. Officials said the junta had handed over less than 200 kilometers in 13 years.
Border Security Force officials in the force’s Eastern Command also hope that the new government will review the deployment of police officers at posts along the India-Bangladesh border.
“The Border Security Force does not have investigative powers, so all those arrested at the border were handed over to the police. There were many cases where the Border Security Forces handed over infiltrators who were later found to be Indian nationals by the police during their investigations,” a second official said.
