Indo-Bangladesh border will be sealed by December: Sarbananda Sonowal

GUWAHATI: The Centre is building walls on water to seal the 48.11 kilometre river portion of the 263-kilometre-long Indo-Bangladesh stretch that Assam shares to stop movement of infiltrators from Bangladesh and smugglers from India.

Chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Wednesday said that the border will be completely sealed by December-end, which is three months ahead of the deadline that MHA had set for completing task and also ahead of the Lok Sabha election next year.

“Sealing the India-Bangladesh border was one of our poll promises. The border will be completely sealed by December 31 this year. There are smart fencing on the land border and non-physical barriers on the riverine sector of the border,” Sonowal announced here while highlighting the achievements of his government on completion of second year of its formation.

The virtual walls, which are laser walls, are being tested at different stretches of the fluid border mostly in Dhubri and Karimganj districts of the state. “These virtual walls are force multipliers. There are alarms and the electronic eye to scan over long distance. The topography is extremely varied and fluid as the situation changes every now and then,” a top state government official said.

Sensors on the physical fence have been fitted to make them smart fences. “Then there are the quick reaction teams of Border Security Force, who on being alerted, will reach the point of breach quickly,” the official said. The border fencing project was launched in 1986 to stop infiltration from Bangladesh. But since then several deadlines have been gone by, have been set, and missed due to various reasons, including settlement of border disputes."

“In the past two years since we came to power, 100 MLAs of the state visited the India-Bangladesh border areas and took stock of the situation. I visited the border thrice and I keep myself updated on the activities along the border. I can tell you the influx of the immigrants and cross-border crimes including the smuggling of cattle and arms have been stopped,” Sonowal said.

Sonowal had also pushed for handing over the entire fence construction to the Indian Army, when the progress on ground seemed to be static for long.