Central plan on borders being implemented

Agartala, July 11: An ambitious Rs 1045.75-crore project is being implemented to construct border roads and barbed wire fencing along the India-Bangladesh border which extends to a length of 4095 km. Senior state government and Union home ministry officials told UNI here on Sunday that strict vigil is being maintained along the Indo-Bangla border in view of the ongoing Kargil conflict. Special measures have been taken to foil possible ISI activities in all the bordering states, specially the North Eastern States. As the entire Indo-Bangladesh border had been prone to large-scale illegal immigration, infiltration and smuggling from Bangladesh, the Centre had sanctioned the Indo-Bangla border roads and fencing project in 1986 at a cost of Rs. 371.74 crore. The cost of the project was subsequently revised to Rs 831.17 crore in 1992. The project cost was further revised to Rs 1045.75 crore in the last year, officials said. Of the total length of 4095 km long Indo-Bangla border, West Bengal shares a length of 2216 km, Tripura 856 km, Meghalaya 443 km, Mizoram 318 km, and Assam 262 km. The multi-crore project envisages construction of roads and barbed wire fences along the sensitive stretches of the Indo-Bangla border in the States of Assam, West Bengal, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura, they said, adding that the works were entrusted to the CPWD in West Bengal, Assam PWD in Assam and the Border Roads Organisations (BROs) in Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura. The project contents include constructions of 2784 km of road, 23.8 km of bridges and 896 km of fence along the Indo-Bangla border in these five states.