Silchar, May 31: Bangladesh has agreed to India's request for relaxation of rules to set up defence installations on the 150-square metres no-man's land.
During recent discussions about the management of the no-man's land held in Shillong, Agartala, Calcutta, Dhaka and New Delhi, the Bangladesh authorities agreed to relax such rules and allow the Indian officials to set up the barbed wire fencing on at least 14 border points along Bangladesh.
Following this decision, the Union home ministry now plans to build a barbed wire fencing at Steamer ghat point in Karimganj by stretching the no-man's land point to the Kushiara river, which divides the two countries.
Inspector-general of the BSF's Mizoram-Cachar frontier, Sanjai Singh, yesterday said in Masimpur, its headquarters, that a scheme had been prepared to build a 5-km barbed wire fencing on the border river of Kushiara at the cost of Rs 18 crore. On Melaghar border point in Karimganj district, another barbed wire fencing and a memorial to commemorate the sacrifice of jawans during the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 would be build, he added.
According to Singh, the BSF has also drawn up a Rs 96crore scheme to modernise the lone border outpost in Cachar district and 91 others in Mizoram.Singh said under the scheme concrete structures for the jawans' dormitories, toilet blocks, modern kitchen and watch posts would be built.
He added that Rs 4 crore would be allotted for the construction of these amenities for each border outpost.He said of the 128km stretch of both the land and riverine international borders along Cachar and Karimganj districts, only 46km remains to be fenced.
An official document handed over to The Telegraph by the BSF revealed that its headquarters in New Delhi had suggested shifting of cattle huts from the border areas and "sterilising" the 150-metre area along the borders to curb the movement by infiltrators.
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