Only five km Bangla border fenced in '06? By a Staff Reporter GUWAHATI, March 4: Fencing along the Indo-Bangladesh border in Asom sector seems to be abysmally slow although it is an admitted fact that the international border with Bangladesh is marked by high degree of porosity, thereby making the efforts to check illegal cross-border activities a challenging task.
"The main problem is illegal migration into India from Bangladesh," sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs said quoting its annual document for the year 2005-2006. According to the latest information, about a 65-km stretch along the Asom-Bangladesh border is yet to be fenced. The unfenced stretch along the international border in Asom was about 70 km in early 2006, the MHA data said. That means that only 5 km border fencing was done in 2006. According to the data provided by Asom Revenue and Assam Accord Implementation Minister Dr Bhumidhar Barman in the floor of the State Assembly last week, 150.607 km of the 267.30-km Asom-Bangladesh border has been fenced so far by the Assam Public Works Department, one of the seven agencies all over the country that have been entrusted by the Centre to complete the fencing work along the 3,286-km-long Indo-Bangladesh border. The minister said that the fencing work was in progress in another stretch of 26.358 km border, which was targeted to be completed by March, while the work in the remaining 37.909 km was yet to start. However, the MHA's annual report last year said that barring the 400-km-stretch along Indo-Bangla border in Mizoram, the entire border fencing project was expected to be completed by the fiscal 2006-2007. Another cause of concern along the Indo-Bangladesh border is its riverine stretch measuring about 107 km. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), in his annual report three years back, had expressed his concern over the unsealed part of the riverine border. "With the riverine stretch of the border left unfenced, the primary objective of fighting illegal migration stands defeated," he said. However, there is no river police to guard the riverine border in Asom, said the minister. According to him, it is only the river wing of the BSF that covers the area. ------------------------------------ >From Sentinel - http://sentinelassam.com/ Bangladeshi intruders According to available reports, Bangladeshi nationals have been using porous Indo-Bangladesh border to enter into India illegally. It is difficult to make a realistic estimate about the number of such illegal Bangladeshi immigrants because they enter surreptitiously and are able to mingle easily with the local population due to ethnic and linguistic similarities. However, there are reports that some illegal Bangladeshi migrants have managed to obtain ration cards, passports and voter identity cards etc. The State Government/UT Administration is competent to deal with such cases, as and when detected, in accordance with the provisions of laws. This was stated by Sriprakash Jaiswal, Minister of State for Home Affairs in a written reply to a Rajya Sabha unstarred question of Sanjay Raut. The minister also stated that the State Government and Administrations have been empowered under section 3(2) (c) of the Foreigners Act, 1946 to detect and deport foreign nationals illegally slaying in India. Administrative instructions are issued from time to time requesting the State Governments and UT Administrations to detect and deport illegal Bangladeshi migrants staying in the country. Source: Assam Tribune. ------------------------------------ >From Assam Tribune - http://assamtribune.com/
