Guwahati: Rebuffing the claim of Centre and Assam government that security had been tightened along the Indo-Bangla border, state BJP president Sarbananda Sonowal on Monday said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should himself visit these areas to have a first-hand knowledge of the situation.
Accusing Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi of being ‘casual’ on the matter for the sake of vote-bank politics, he claimed that hundreds of Indian families were being forced to reside beyond the border fence at Cachar, Karimganj and Dhubri districts.
“The alignment for fencing of the border has been carried out in a haphazard manner which has left hundreds of families and their land stranded between the fence and the zero line,” he told reporters here.
Sonowal said he along with other BJP leaders had visited the border areas in Barak Valley and Dhubri district earlier this month.
“We found that in Lasashill in Karimganj district 139 Indian families are staying beyond the fence, while there are 49 such families in Madanpur in Cachar district.”
“A total 700 bighas (of land) and 122 families have been placed between the fence and the zero line at Bhogdanga in Dhubri,” he said adding that all the families had complained to the BJP team that they were being constantly threatened by Bangladesh border guards.
“In Karimganj town, which is adjacent to Bangaldesh, 3.5 km of the border has been left unfenced. The situation is similar at Ghehumari in Dhubri.”
“All this proves that the tall claims of Tarun Gogoi regarding measures to provide security for people in the border areas and check illegal immigration are hollow.” Sonowal said BJP has already demanded changes in the alignment of the fencing work and measures to increase security in the Indo-Bangladesh border. (PTI)