Tripura border with B'desh to be sealed within two years: Centre

After its decision to completely seal the 262 km-long India-Bangladesh border in Assam, the Central Government is now mulling on sealing the international border in Tripura.

Recently, Susheel Kumar, Secretary of Border Management of Ministry of Home Affairs, paid a visit to Tripura to take stock of border development projects in the state.

Bangladesh and India share 4,096-kilometer long international border, the fifth-longest land border in the world.

Infiltration and cross border crimes have always been a major issue in the northeast which has often led to disturbance in the region.

Kumar visited Tripura to review the cross border situation and progress of border development projects in the state.

The review meeting was held in presence of Chief Secretary Y P Singh, DGP K. Nagaraj, Border Security Force (BSF) IG J.B. Sangwan and the District Magistrates of all eight district of the state.

"Fence is on requirement basis, like Tripura I have had discussion with Meghalaya, two days back I had discussion with West Bengal. So, everywhere we are trying to complete the fence with the Bangladesh border," said Kumar.

"We have already taken a decision that within two years, we are going to seal that border. Assam has much more riverine stretches, but we have decided that we will completely seal that in two years time," he added.

It is worth mentioning that to complete the fencing on time and keeping in view the local issues, the government, if required, may raise the issue of fencing at zero points at some spots with Bangladesh.

"Wherever fencing is required at zero point because of certain local issues we will certainly explore that. But then we have to get the government of Bangladesh to agree. That dialogue is to be done and we will see that it is done," said Kumar.

The Secretary, Border Management, informed that sealing the border with Bangladesh is top priority and along with that fencing will also be raised at few spots on the Myanmar border.

"On Myanmar side, the topography is completely different; the requirement is completely different. So, we will adopt different approach on the Indo-Myanmar border," said Kumar.

Sealing of the Indo-Bangla border in northeast will not only lead to socio-economic development of the region, but bring an end to infiltration and trans-border movement of militants.