NEW DELHI: Nearly four years after the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) okayed 10 additional Integrated Check Posts (ICPs) along the India-Bangladesh border, work on seven projects in West Bengal continues to remain stalled because of land acquisition and transfer-related issues.
According to Home Ministry sources, senior officials briefed the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs in March this year stating that “despite several requests” to the West Bengal government, “the land for development of ICPs has not yet been transferred to LPAI (Land Ports Authority of India)” for the seven proposed ICPs.
LPAI, set up in 2012 under MHA’s Border Management Division, was mandated to “put in place systems which address security imperatives and for the development and management of ICPs”.
The ICPs, apart from housing regulatory agencies such as Customs, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Bureau of Immigration and BSF, are also mandated to provide additional support facilities.
While nine ICPs – at Attari and Dera Baba Nanak (Punjab), Agartala and Srimantapur (Tripura), Petrapole (West Bengal), Raxaul and Jogbani (Bihar), Moreh (Manipur) and Sutarkandi (Assam) – are operational since 2012, problems associated with land transfer to LPA by four states (Mizoram, Uttarakhand, Bihar and West Bengal) in the case of 10 additional ICPs have severely delayed their completion.
Of the 10 proposed ICPs, seven — Hili, Changrabandha, Jaigaon, Panitanki, Ghojadanga, Mahadipur and Phulbari – are on the India-Bangladesh border in Bengal.
The LPAI, which has been coordinating with the state government, has met with little success in initiating the process of land acquisition.
Following a meeting between Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla and Bengal Chief Secretary Hari Krishna Dwivedi in November 2021, several other official level exchanges have failed to expedite the process.
“Construction and development of the ICPs can be initiated after land acquisition by the state,” an official said.
Construction work at the three check posts in Mizoram (Kawrpuichhuah on the Bangladesh border), Uttarakhand (Banbasa, on Nepal border) and Bihar (Bhittamore, on Nepal border) are also behind schedule.