From Our Correspondent
Agartala: As part of goodwill gesture, the Bangladesh government has agreed to allow erection of barbed wire fencing Tripura’s Zero-Line in some strategic locations, official sources confirmed here.
Of late, the Bangladesh government has given green signal to construct fencing along the Zero-Line in Sabroom subdivision following request from the state government, said Manoj Kumar, Principal Secretary, Home here on Tuesday.
He said with the approval, the stalled fencing work along the border will start very shortly.
Earlier, the fencing work along 5 km Indo-Bangla border in Sabroom Sub-Division was stalled due to opposition from the Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB).
While fencing along Zero-Line at Mohanpur in West Tripura district and Kailashahar in newly created Unakoti district has almost been completed, the fencing work will get underway at Kamalasagar with the move of the Bangaldesh government, he said adding that fencing would come up along Zero-Line in Belonia subdivision too.
The erection of border fencing has got stalled in some border areas due to strong opposition from BGB on the ground that permanent structure in any form along the Zero-Line would not be acceptable by both countries as per the Indira-Muzib treaty.
However, the state government had identified some areas where erection of fencing 150 yards from the Zero Line would not be feasible and approached the Centre to seek permission from the Bangladesh government.
After hectic persuasion, the Sheikh Hasina government accepted the request from the state government paving the way for taking up stalled fencing work along the Zero-Line.
It may be noted that 75 per cent of the border fencing in the 856-km Indo-Bangla has so far been completed and remaining border will be fenced by end of this year, according to BSF sources.