Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday reviewed the fencing and other security infrastructure in the Mankachar sector of the India-Bangladesh border.
Mankachar, on the Assam-Meghalaya-Bangladesh tri-junction, was once notorious as the smugglers’ route. It is also the sector where 16 Border Security Force (BSF) personnel force were killed by the members of the erstwhile Bangladesh Rifles in April 2001 due to a now-settled border dispute.
Accompanied by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Mr. Shah inspected the border from an observation post. A flag march was conducted in his presence by the personnel of the BSF and Border Guards Bangladesh.
Several issues discussed
A BSF spokesperson said the Home Minister discussed infiltration, cattle smuggling, status of boundary fencing and surveillance gadgets with senior officials at the force’s Sadartilla Camp.
Later at Tamulpur in western Assam’s Bodoland Territorial Region, Mr. Shah laid the foundation stone of a Central Workshop and Stores, second of its kind in the country. It will supply arms and ammunition to the central armed paramilitary forces in the northeast and parts of West Bengal.
The arms and ammunition to the central paramilitary forces are currently being supplied from the Central Workshop and Stores at Tekanpur in Madhya Pradesh.
“The Centre will invest ₹50 crore for the workshop and stores project. It will further strengthen Assam’s security,” Mr. Shah told a gathering.
He underscored the success of Narendra Modi government’s efforts in restoring peace in Assam through peace accords with several extremist groups.
“When I first came to Bodoland seven years ago, the BJP was not in power in Assam. The youth were then fighting with arms in their hands. There was the politics of violence. Hundreds of youths got killed. We had promised if we capture power, we will restore peace,” he said.
