The Indian Border Security Force’s bid to install poles failed again on Friday evening at Tin Bigha corridor at Dahagram border point under Patgram upazila in Lalmonirhat after the Border Guard Bangladesh strongly protested against the attempt.
Earlier on Friday morning, the BSF also failed to install poles within the 150 yards of the no-man’s land
at Kalshirmukh border under Kuchlibari union of the upazila in violation of international laws.
At about 7:00pm on the day, despite strong protest from the BGB, the Indian border force tried to construct a pole with barbed wire fence at the zero line of Dahagram border point, triggering a tense situation as both border forces faced off with weapons, according to local people and BGB officials.
BGB-51 Battalion commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Naziur Rahman said that the BSF finally backtracked on its attempt due to the strong protest from the BGB.
Around 35 Indian nationals were gathered to do the construction work under the guard of 70–80 armed BSF personnel from the force’s West Bengal 174th Battalion’s Bhim Camp, said BGB officials.
The emergency situation prompted a telephone conversation between the battalion commander level of the BGB and BSF.
‘The BGB will not accept any construction by the BSF on the zero line violating the international border law. When the BSF illegally set up bamboo poles on the border, they were forced to stop the work due to the strong resistance from the BGB,’ said BGB-51 Battalion commanding officer Naziur Rahman.
According to Bangladesh authorities, the two neighbours share 4,156 kilometres of border of which some 180km falls on different waterbodies and 79km on Sundarban.
India’s West Bengal government on Wednesday handed over an initial 75 acres of land to the BSF to build a 27km-long fence along the international border between the two countries, reported The Times of India on Thursday.
West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari, who had earlier promised to start the land handover process after the BJP government assumed office, said that the completion of the critical, long-pending fencing along the India-Bangladesh border would be crucial to national security, added the report available online.
Of the land, 43 acres were directly purchased, while 32 acres were vested property.
