Shillong, July 4: The BSF Meghalaya Frontier assured that the smuggling of sugar and onion to Bangladesh would drastically come down.
While speaking to reporters here on Thursday, Inspector General (IG) of the BSF Meghalaya Frontier, Harbax Singh Dhillon said that there was depletion of the manpower due to the general actions and now this has been made up.
According to him, sugar smuggling is bound to come down and it has already come down.
“It is going to come down more with the increase in the number of forces who are deployed to man the border,” BSF Meghalaya Frontier IG said.
He further informed that they have already discussed this matter at length with the Chief Minister, Deputy Minister and Home Minister, Chief Secretary and DGP adding that they have also discussed this matter with the Border Guards of Bangladesh (BGB).
Dhillon said that they are committed to bring it down to the bare minimum sugar.
The BSF Meghalaya Frontier IG said that sometimes the issue of sugar smuggling is being blown out of proportion in the social media by those with some vested agenda and they are trying to project an enhanced picture of the situation which is not true with the ground reality.
He further alleged that sometimes the social media and some of the NGO groups they like to project things in an enhanced manner in the social media and the problem may not be to that extent.
Meanwhile, Dhillon stressed about the need to request the NGOs to educate the local population not to get involved in these kinds of things.
“There is a need for people to look at other kinds of livelihood. People in the border villages should focus more on education. We also need to help people to look at alternative livelihood,” he said.
The BSF Meghalaya Frontier IG also informed that they are also proposing some kind of relaxation in the recruitment of bordering villages so that maximum of the livelihood can be provided by BSF and to help them get involved into the mainstream.
Meanwhile, Meghalaya Frontier BSF IG said that during the meeting with the BGP they have discussed all kinds of aspects relating to smuggling of contraband goods and arms and ammunition have been discussed in detail.
Smuggling is not something new. Both the BSF and BGB have discussed issues in a detailed manner and hopefully things are going to be in place.