Among the 11 unfenced patches along the India-Bangladesh border, six patches have been covered with fencing and the rest would be completed by next year, said Inspector General (IG) of BSF-Tripura, Piyush Patel Purushottam Das.

Addressing a press at frontier headquarters at Shalbagan area at the outskirts of Agartala on Monday, IG-BSF, Purushottam Das said that 1,018 individuals, including 498 Bangladeshis and 124 other nationals including Rohingyas  were arrested from January 2023 till April this year for illegally crossing the border.

He said that over the years, BSF Tripura frontier has taken multifaceted responsibilities, in fighting the insurgency, in maintaining the sanctity of the border and in preventing all kind of trans-border crimes, while working under adverse climatic conditions in remote and inhospitable topography and highly malaria epidemic zones in most of its operational areas.

The Border Guards has achieved several milestones during the preceding year 2023 and by maintaining strong vigil on the border to prevent trans-border movement of insurgents, particularly in the eastern segment of the state, BSF formations under Tripura Frontier persistently persuaded 18 insurgents of NFLT (BM) Cadre for surrender and joining the mainstream of society.

During the period from 2023 and upto 15 April 2024, huge quantities of contraband items worth Rs. 94.56 crore have been seized. During the period from 01 Jan 2023 to upto 15 April 2024, BSF along with sister agencies and acting independently conducted special drive in the depth area and destroyed 24.14 lakh Ganja saplings, said  Purushottam Das.

It may be recalled here that Tripura has an 856-km long international border with Bangladesh, parts of which remain unfenced due to local disputes. The total length of the newly fenced border is 7 km, which still leaves five other patches, extending several kilometres, to be fenced after dialogue between India and Bangladesh.

IG Das said the remaining unfenced patches would be closed with single-row fencing by next year. “There were 11 gaps. We have covered six patches, extending 7 km, this year. There is some issue regarding the border alignment with the BGB. It is yet to be resolved. Besides, we cannot erect a fence on the zero line as per the understanding between both nations. There are some villages living very close to the zero line. So, we floated the single-row fence proposal,” said the IG.

BSF Tripura frontier took several initiatives to complete the fencing work on the border as well as by deploying technological solutions and employing other measures.  Currently, the Single Row Fence (SRF) work is in progress (8 gaps) in stretches. The BSF Tripura has also taken initiatives at the local level to plug the ‘Nullah’ and culvert gaps to prevent the illegal activities. The BSF has also taken initiatives to install smart surveillance system (503 Nos of surveillance cameras) to enhance the border domination in most smuggling and infiltration prone areas.

Roughly 2,500 Indian villagers still live on the other side of the barbed-wire fence and while they choose to stay back there to protect their farmlands against thieves and anti-socials, the BSF is encouraging them to shift inside the fenced territory on Indian part.

 The detentions of people illegally crossing border in Tripura has also gone up significantly from the previous years as the BSF detained 369 individuals, including 59 Rohingya, 160 Indians and 150 Bangladeshi nationals in 2022 apart from recovering a significant cache of drugs and contraband and arresting 208 “intruders”, including 115 Indians and 93 Bangladeshi nationals in 2021.

He said that the biggest challenges are illegal infiltration and exfiltration. In the last 1.5 years, BSF troops apprehended over 1,000 people who were attempting illegal border-crossing, including 426 outgoing and 592 incoming people.

The BSF official also said a group of touts living in both countries are facilitating infiltration and exfiltration and based on surveillance checks, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the border force apprehended 29 touts in November and December last year. The authorities are keeping an eye on some who remain to be caught.

During 2023 influx of Rohingya Illegal Migrants(RIMs) and BD nationals increased through the state of Tripura. They are using Tripura as a corridor to reach different destinations in India.   A well-established network of Touts of Modules across borders exist in which facilitate illegal migration. Touts and harbourers have access and network in different parts of Tripura and they are involved in facilitating illegal crossing, providing shelters, providing genuine and fake identity documents and providing assistance during travelling for further destinations, said IG. In the month of November 2023, a special operation was launched by NIA with the active assistance of BSF and several touts involved in illegal migration were apprehended. Prominent infiltration routes have been identified and BSF in close coordination with sister agencies is closely monitoring the activities of touts. This has considerably reduced the number of infiltration attempts by RIMs.

A few people were recently killed in clashes with BSF troopers along the Indo-Bangla border in Tripura. The IG clarified that their jawans are issued non-lethal Pump Action Guns (PAG) to prevent loss of life along the border. However, if the BSF jawans are under attack or in serious danger, they have to resort to lethal weapons, indicating that smugglers had mounted an attack on the BSF jawans. To maintain peace and tranquility on the border and to maintain friendly relations with our neighbour Bangladesh, BSF has adopted Non-Lethal Strategy maintaining its commitment towards Human rights and cases of firing from lethal weapons has decreased considerably since the last few years and have taken place only in extremely compelling circumstances.

Year 2023-2024 is a milestone in settling various long pending bilateral issues between India and Bangladesh by the initiative and persistent efforts of BSF, said IG and added that during the Director General level talk between DG BSF and  DG BGB held in the month of June 2023, 3 pending development works were settled through concurrence on reciprocal basis.

During the Director General level talk between DG BSF and DG BGB held in the month of 2024, six pending development works were settled through concurrence on reciprocal basis. Out of 6 development works settled on Indo-Bangla borders, three in Tripura including welcome gate, conference hall, viewer’s gallery and immigration check post building of ICP Agartala, construction of land custom station (LCS) Muhurighat and construction of LCS Paharmura.