KOLKATA: With the war between Centre and Bengal government raging on over National Register of Citizens (NRC) and Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), the central government decided to erect barbed-wire fence along the 82 km stretch along India—Bangladesh border in Nadia, Murshidabad and North 24-Parganas districts to prevent infiltration.
The stretches in the three districts were identified as infiltration-prone zones by the BSF’s intelligence wing. The Centre already had allotted `88 crore for land acquisition in North 24-Parganas district which shares around 315 km of border with Bangladesh.
“The cabinet already accepted the Centre’s proposal. The first phase of fund allotment has already been sent to North 24-Parganas Zilla Parishad,’’ said an official of land and land revenue department.
He, however, said the state government’s policy on land acquisition would be followed. “Land will be acquired from the owners and will be handed over to the BSF. The central government’s will carry out the work,’’ he said.
In the north 24-Parganas district, presently around 31 km stretch is lying without fencing and taking its advantage, infiltrators sneak into Bengal, said a BSF official. The district has 165 km riverine border route.
South Bengal shares around 916 km of border with Bangladesh and 544 km of it has no barbed wiring.