Union home minister Amit Shah visited the Teenbigha corridor on the India-Bangladesh border in Cooch Behar district on Friday against the backdrop of the deteriorating relationship between the state administration and the border guards.
Shah landed in Teenbigha in a chopper and visited the corridor, accompanied by Pankaj Kumar Singh, the director-general of the BSF, and other senior officers.
The Teenbigha corridor is a stretch of land on the Indian territory that connects Angrapota and Dahagram, two Bangladesh villages that are hemmed in by India.
Located in the Fulkadabri village of Cooch Behar, the corridor, which is 178 metres long and 80 metres wide, was opened in 1982 to facilitate movement of residents of these two villages to Bangladesh.
Ajai Singh, the inspector-general of the north Bengal frontier of the BSF, gave a detailed presentation to Shah on the peculiarities of the corridor, the security situation in the surrounding areas and the measures adopted by the BSF.
“During an interaction with officials, the home minister directed them to keep strict vigil on the border round the clock to curb nefarious activities of trans-border criminals and anti-national elements,” said a source.
Later, Shah went to the Jhikabari border outpost of the BSF and interacted with troops deployed at the border.
“He discussed the problems faced by the troops while on duty, boosted their morale and motivated them to perform their duties with honesty and dedication,” the source added.
In the past few months, and particularly the Union home ministry issued a notification last year increasing the BSF’s jurisdiction from 15km to 50km within the Indian territory from the border, chief minister Mamata Banerjee has criticised the paramilitary force time and again for resorting to “lethal means”.
“A number of incidents have occurred where the BSF has resorted to firing without any provocation. Such incidents have led to deaths of villagers in border areas. Also, they often torment these people on flimsy pretexts. The police and civil administration of bordering districts such as Cooch Behar should see to it that the BSF does not act without taking them into confidence,” Mamata had recently said at an administrative meeting.
On November 12 last year, three persons had died in BSF firing on the Indo-Bangla border in Cooch Behar. Among the deceased, two were Bangladeshis, the BSF had claimed.
Again on December 23, 2021, two border villagers died in another round of firing at the border. Another suspected “smuggler” died in BSF firing in the district on April 10 this year.
“Recently, some BSF men beat up a youth for moving through a border road in the evening. Also, a restriction was imposed on farmers that they cannot cultivate jute on their land near the border fences. In both cases, the Cooch Behar administration had acted and taken up the issues with the BSF,” said a police officer posted in the district.
A security analyst said the state government had objected to the decision to increase the BSF’s jurisdiction and was exerting pressure on the force over the issue of highhandedness. Shah, during his two-day visit, has made attempts to bolster confidence of the force posted in Cooch Behar and other districts of Bengal which share borders with Bangladesh.
“That he wanted to send a message to the force was evident from his yesterday’s comment when he had asserted that a conducive political situation would be created soon so that the BSF gets due cooperation from the local administration to curb infiltration and smuggling,” said the analyst.
