Land purchase for Indo-bangla border fencing on fast track in

The West Bengal government has expedited the process of purchasing land along the India- Bangladesh border for fencing work, a senior official at the state secretariat said on Thursday.

Over the past five years, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had been prodding the state government to procure land for the fencing project. The Centre recently gave a nod for direct purchase of land instead of acquisition.

"The state government had taken a go-slow approach, citing its hands-off land policy. After the Centre okayed direct purchase, instructions were issued to go-ahead with the necessary work at the earliest," the official told PTI.

The administration in the bordering districts of Malda, North 24-Parganas, Nadia, Murshidabad, Cooch Behar and Uttar and Dakshin Dinajpur has been directed by the state government to facilitate land purchase, he said.

"The entire process is being monitored by the secretariat. The state has issued directives to respective district administrations to speed up work for purchasing land," he said.

In the last three to four years, the state has acquired 800 acres for the project and work is in progress to buy more land for the project.

"The state has recently approved the purchase of another 400 acres, going by the pace of work for the project. It seems we will be able to hand over 1,400 acres to the MHA in the next few months," the official said.

Bangladesh shares 4,096-kilometre border with India, of which 2216 km runs through West Bengal.