New Delhi: More Bangladeshi infiltrators have been caught in Meghalaya in the last five years than in neighbouring Assam where the National Register of Citizens (NRC) has become a huge controversy.
39 infiltrators were caught from the Meghalaya border alone in 2018 compared to only 11 in Assam, records in Parliament showed.
Till June this year, 11 infiltrators have been nabbed from the Meghalaya border compared to six arrests in Assam.
In total 10,746 infiltrators have been apprehended along the India-Bangladesh border since 2014, the government informed Lok Sabha in reply to a question by Shillong MP Vincent H Pala.
Of these 9,702 were intercepted in the border regions of West Bengal alone.
The Union Minister of State for Home, Nityanand Rai, in a written reply said border guarding forces had apprehended 369 infiltrators from the India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal till June 30 this year, against 900 in 2018; 992 in 2017; 1,875 in 2016; 3,296 in 2015 and 2,260 in 2014.
In comparison, 65 infiltrators were caught along Assam’s border with Bangladesh between January 2014 and June 2019. This was less than the 677 infiltrators apprehended along the international border with Tripura and 281 on the Meghalaya border. Mizoram with fewer boundaries with Bangladesh saw the least infiltrators (21) nabbed in the corresponding period. Infiltrators into West Bengal followed by Tripura is natural considering the similarly in population on both sides of the border but the number in Meghalaya as compared to Assam has raised eyebrows. Rai said border guarding forces have been conducting regular patrolling and undertaking anti-tunneling exercise to stop illegal infiltration from Bangladesh.
But some illegal migrants were able to enter surreptitiously, taking advantage of the difficult riverine terrain in parts of the international border that are not amenable to fencing.
The government has spent Rs 1,138.48 crore for the fencing along the international border between India and Bangladesh in the last five years. The entire length of the international border is 4096.70 km and the fence that has been sanctioned stands at a total length of 3326.14 km.
By next year the entire border in this sector might be completed, the Minister said.
It is a known fact that the number of infiltrators caught is only the tip of the iceberg since a large number of them cross over undetected.
