SHILLONG: The Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) has denied allegations that its personnel had entered Indian territory in West Jaintia Hills district and threatened villagers to stop a road construction work.
Inspector General, Meghalaya Frontier of the BSF, Kuldeep Saini said the BSF and BGB had held a flag meeting on Sunday to sort out issues following reports that personnel of the latter had entered Indian territory and threatened villagers to stop the construction of a road near the international border. He said following the reports, an officer was sent to the location to verify the incident and it was revealed that the local residents were constructing a road in the area.
Later, the flag meeting was held between the two forces where BGB denied crossing the international border and said that they went up to the border to verify as they saw a JCB and construction work taking place in the area.
According to Saini, the BGB also refuted the allegations that they threatened any villagers in Meghalaya.
“They said out of curiosity, they went to the border and since there was no pukka road, they did not raise any objection,” he said.
He also said that the local villagers did not inform the BSF about the incident.
As per media reports, three armed BGB men went to the site on Saturday and ordered the villagers to stop work, asserting that the spot was within 150 yards from the international border and that the construction violated rules.
It may be mentioned that Meghalaya Frontier of the Border Security Force is in charge of guarding the 443 km-long Indo-Bangladesh border, most parts of which are unfenced, hilly and difficult to man.
