Govt identifies infiltration prone places from B'desh

As influx from Bangladesh has become a major concern for the country, the Govt has identified 46 places along the Indo-Bangla border which are prone to infiltration from the neighbouring nation.

As influx from Bangladesh has become a major concern for the country, the Government has identified 46 places along the Indo-Bangla border which are prone to infiltration from the neighbouring nation.

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Home Ministry sources said despite efforts, the corridors which are being frequently used for infiltration, could not be plugged by the border guarding force.

"The 46 places are located in West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura. We are exploring a new strategy through which a fool-proof mechanism will be evolved to guard the border," a senior Home Ministry official said.

The BSF, which guards the 4,095-km-long porous Indo-Bangla border, has cited various reasons including inaccessible terrain and long riverine areas for its inability to make the frontier fool-proof round the clock.

"There are certain areas where fencing and border roads are yet to be completed, the vessels which are used to guard riverine areas are not as fast as they are required to be and the night vision devices are not adequate," the official said.

Though Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta said that the government was "very concerned" about the problem of illegal immigration from Bangladesh, it has no data on the number of Bangladeshis living in the country illegally.

However, the BSF has recently disclosed that 12 lakh Bangladeshis, who had entered India between 1972 and 2005 with valid documents, did not return.

While 25,712 out of over five lakh Bangladeshi nationals did not return after expiry of their visa in 2007, more than 24,000 remained missing in 2006 when 4.84 lakh had entered India with valid travel documents, they said.