States must share responsibility for security in border areas, says Shah

The 25th EZC meeting, which lasted for around two-and-a-half hours, was attended by Banerjee, her counterpart from Jharkhand Hemant Soren, Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav and Odisha cabinet minister Pradeep Amat.

States share equal responsibility with the Border Security Force (BSF) to keep a check on cross-border crimes, Union home minister Amit Shah said on Saturday while chairing a meeting of Eastern Zone Council in Kolkata. The meeting was followed by a one-on-one meeting with West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

(From left) Bihar deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Union home minister Amit Shah, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren and Odisha minister Tusharkanti Behera in Howrah on Saturday. (Agencies)

The 25th EZC meeting, which lasted for around two-and-a-half hours, was attended by Banerjee, her counterpart from Jharkhand Hemant Soren, Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav and Odisha cabinet minister Pradeep Amat. Shah was accompanied by five home ministry officials at the meeting. Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and his Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik skipped Saturday’s session.

Issues like illegal infiltration, trans-border smuggling and the vulnerable India-Bangladesh boundary were among the subjects discussed at the meeting, said senior officials who didn’t wish to be named. Soon after, Shah held a nearly 20-minute meeting with Banerjee, following which he left for Shillong.

“The state government is dilly dallying to hand over land to the BSF to set up 72 border outposts. He (Shah) held a meeting with the chief minister to discuss issues on how to strength coordination between the state police and the BSF. He requested the state to cooperate with the BSF because the Indo-Bangla border was crucial from the point of National security,” said Suvendu Adhikary, leader of the opposition in the state legislative assembly.

The India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal is the longest and one of the most porous international borders in any state across the country. Out of the 4096.7 km-long border, West Bengal alone shares 2,216km with the neighbouring country. In south Bengal, the border is more than 900 km-long, out of which nearly 60% is riverine.

During the meeting, the chief minister is also believed to have raised the issue of releasing central funds and clearing dues. The Centre owes the West Bengal government more than ₹97,000 crore, Banerjee had said during her earlier interactions with the media.

The meeting comes at a time when the ruling Trinamool Congress has stepped up its attack against the BJP ahead of the crucial panchayat polls in West Bengal early next year and Mamata Banerjee has been accusing the centre of using central agencies to target opposition parties.

Earlier in September a buzz was triggered in the state’s political circle after Banerjee adopted a softer tone towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi even as she upped the ante against Shah without naming him.

TMC leaders said that it was more of an administrative meeting which has no political connotations.

“This is an administrative issue. It is a different issue that Shah had wanted to defeat the TMC but failed. He came here as the Union home minister and held a meeting with the state’s chief minister at the state secretariat. I can’t see any politics in this,” said Kunal Ghosh, TMC spokesperson.

The meeting also discussed the resurgence of Maoist activities in Jharkhand, Odisha and Bengal. It was decided that states and centre will pool real time information on Maoist activities in the red zone in order to coordinate steps to neutralise the movement, officials said.

Speaking at the meeting, CM Soren criticised the Centre’s Forest Conservation Rules 2022, which diluted the powers of the gram sabha, calling it an encroachment of the rights of the tribals.

“The way powers of the gram sabha have been diluted in the forest conservation rules 2020, its like encroachment of rights of around 20 crore tribals in the country. The rules need to be amended in sync with the forest rights Act 2006,” said Soren.

Reiterating the state’s demand, Soren also asked the Centre to ensure disbursal of ₹1.36 lakh crore outstanding dues against coal mining companies CCL, BCCL and ECL, besides ensuring proper closure of the abandoned mines in order to prevent environmental degradation and check illegal mining.

(With inputs from Ranchi)