Tensions simmer at Bengal’s border as India, B’desh spar over frontier fencing

Tensions rise at the Indo-Bangla border as BSF's fence construction faces objections from BGB, with villagers supporting BSF

Uttam Mondal, 41, a farmer from Sabdalpur village in West Bengal’s Malda district, was still all charged up as he narrated details of the January 5 face-off between the Border Security Force (BSF) and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) that saw villagers from the bordering areas of both countries gathering at the spot as tensions ran high over the construction of a fence on the Indian side along the Indo-Bangla border.

BSF officials explained that if any permanent structure, such as a border fence, has to come up within 150 yards of the international border. (HT photo)

“I haven’t seen anything of this sort in my life.