SHILLONG, Nov 9: A large chunk of the Indo-Bangla border in Meghalaya continues to remain unfenced in spite of the fact that the unfenced border continues to be a transit route for contraband items and smuggling of cattle.
An official from the Border Security Force (BSF) informed The Shillong Times that out of 444.857 km of the international boundary that Meghalaya shares with Bangladesh, 341.764 km has been fenced.
Though time and again, commitments have been made for completion of the fencing, yet different issues including opposition from the local population hinders the fencing work, the BSF official said.
The locals want the fencing to come up on the Zero Line at the border but the fencing work is being carried out 150 yards from the border inside the Indian territory.
Farmers are apprehensive that construction of the border fencing would result in loss of arable land.
As per BSF official, fencing work is in progress in approximately 30.9 km of the border and it is expected to be completed by next year.
Out of the remaining 72.2 km, fencing in around 12 km is not feasible due to the presence of rivulets and streams.
It was also informed that around 60 km of border fencing work is pending at various levels which include a 42-km stretch where survey work is in progress.
It is said that there are as many as 13 patches of land where the fencing is required to be constructed more than 150 yards inside the international border on Indian soil.
