Over Rs 1100 cr spent on fencing on Indo-Bangladesh Border

New Delhi: A total amount of Rs 1138.48 crore have been spent in fencing the International Border between India and Bangladesh during the last five years, the government informed the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

The total length of the International Border is 4096.70 km. So far, fencing has been completed for 2803 km and the probable date of completion is December 2020.

The information was given by the Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai in a written reply to a question in the Lower House of Parliament.

"The schemes for creation of border infrastructure works, on Indo-Bangladesh Border, like fence, road, floodlight and Border Out-Posts (BOPs) are in progress. Border guarding forces conduct regular patrolling, lay nakas and establish observation posts and carry out anti tunnelling exercise to stop illegal infiltration," Rai said.

"However, illegal migrants are able to enter in a clandestine and surreptitious manner, mainly due to difficult riverine terrain in parts of the international border with Bangladesh which are not amenable to physical fencing," he stated.

Between 2014 and 2019, the number of infiltrators apprehended in West Bengal reduced to 379 from 2,260. In Assam, the numbers came down from 101 to 94 while in Meghalaya, it decreased from 64 to 11.

In Mizoram, the number of infiltrators apprehended has been reduced to seven from eight and in Tripura, the numbers lowered to 101 to 94.