SHILLONG: Inspector General (IG) of the Border Security Force (BSF), Meghalaya Frontier, Hardeep Singh has expressed optimism that the long pending issue of fencing the entire international border between India and Bangladesh in Meghalaya will be completed within a year.
Speaking to newsmen in Shillong on Friday, Hardeep Singh said that construction of fencing along 70 per cent out of a total of 443 kilometers international border in Meghalaya has been completed in the state.
Stating that the implementing agency is willing to continue the construction of the fencing in the remaining portions, he added there are few patches where BSF needs clearance from BGB for the construction to continue
Making it clear that it is not possible to construct the border along the zero line, he added that the matter pertaining to land acquisition has been continuously discussed at different levels with the State Government of Meghalaya.
According to IG, there are as many as 13 patches where fencing is required to be constructed beyond 150 yards of the international border.
On the increasing insurances of cattle smuggling, he said that the BSF have so far seized more than 10000 cattle on the border.
The IG while admitting that smugglers use unfenced areas and gaps along the border to smuggle cattle, he added that connectivity is a major problem in the border areas but BSF has made alternative arrangements for its troops to communicate along the border.
