KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday announced the transfer of a 27-km stretch of land to the Border Security Force for long-pending fencing projects along the India-Bangladesh border and said illegal infiltrators would be arrested by the state police and handed over to the border force.
The decision to transfer land for border protection works was taken on May 11 during the first cabinet meeting of the BJP government in the state at Nabanna.
Addressing a press conference alongside BSF officials at Nabanna on Wednesday evening, Suvendu said land covering an initial 27-km stretch along the border would be handed over to the BSF within two weeks, marking the beginning of a larger border security initiative.
He also announced the implementation of a mechanism for direct handover of “infiltrators” to the BSF by the state police. Suvendu said communities not covered under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act would be detained and deported under the new exercise, which comes into force immediately.
According to him, the Union government had last year directed the previous All India Trinamool Congress government led by Mamata Banerjee to directly hand over illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators to the BSF, but the directive was not implemented.
“We will protect our state as well as the country through regular coordination between our government and BSF authorities. The previous state government had opposed the CAA,” Suvendu told reporters.
Clarifying who would face deportation, he said people who entered Bengal before December 31, 2024, and belong to communities covered under the CAA would not be harassed or detained.
“People belonging to seven communities are covered under the CAA. Those who are not within its purview are illegal infiltrators. Police will arrest them and hand them over to the BSF. Following talks with the BGB, these infiltrators will be pushed back to Bangladesh. This means detect, delete and deport,” he said.
Suvendu added that the state Chief Secretary and Home Secretary had been instructed to implement the process.
In 2025, the Union Home Ministry had stated that individuals belonging to minority communities, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians, from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who entered India by December 31, 2024, after facing religious persecution, would be exempted from standard passport and travel document requirements under the CAA provisions.
