SHILLONG, AUG 8: Even as the union government has set 2014 as the deadline to finish the international border fencing along the India-Bangladesh border in Meghalaya sector, the Coordination Committee on International Border (CCIB), a conglomeration of NGOs, is in no mood to allow the fencing work.
CCIB spokesperson GH Kharshanlor on Thursday said,” We are not bothered about the deadline of the union government. The CCIB is opposed to the decision to construct the border fence 150 yards inside and away from the zero-line as it wants the fencing to come up along the zero line to prevent loss of arable land.
Kharshanlor said that the union government must first identify the zero line and after that the committee would like to know the alignment of the international border
The union government had given many assurances to speed up the project but still a large sector of 443 kilometer Indo-Bangla border is yet to be fenced due to opposition from the CCIB.
Kharshanlor said, “The CCIB would like to know the alignment as of now we don’t know where is the land of India and where is of Bangladesh.” When asked about the illegal Bangladeshi immigrants often crossing to India from across the borders, he said that most of the Bangladeshi labourers make their way to Meghalaya through national highways.
One third of the Indo Bangla border is yet to be fenced as fencing work is going on in 50 kilometres stretched of the border in Meghalaya while the government is yet to acquire land for the 88 kilometer planned border fencing
The former IG of BSF Meghalaya frontier Sudesh Kumar earlier had stressed on the need for border fencing to curb down on the menace of Bangladeshi illegal immigrants crossing over to India from Bangladesh.- By Our Reporter
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